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Kid Cudi Quits Marijuana, Yet Remains A Wizard

Posted 4/4/11 1:59 pm EST by in Music


By Zachary Swickey

On Friday, much to the consternation of the folks at NORML, and in direct opposition to photos like this, Kid Cudi announced on his Tumblr account that he has quit smoking marijuana:

"I dont smoke weed anymore. I'll leave it to the kids. I'm 27 with a business to run and I need to be alert and focused with my mind strong. For those who still get it on, smoke one in my memory as your favorite lonely stoner."

What many presumed to be an April Fool’s Joke doesn’t seem to be as Cudi reiterated, "This is not a joke" and got somewhat hostile with fans who don’t like their favorite rapper’s newfound sobriety, writing "Im happy being a new me. Giva f--- who thinks of me different, you didn’t care about me in the first place.

"I'm not your puppet or your tap dancing drug addict here to be your miserable muse," he continued. "I always made music for me to help myself find understanding."

This definitely comes as a surprise, especially considering just three weeks ago, Cudi was showing off stills from his upcoming music video for his next single, "Marijuana." And let's not forget his long-in-the-works Wizard album, the rock-leaning affair he's cooking up with beat-making partner Dot Da Genius (Wizards, are, after all, the bong-iest of all Mages).

Still, Cudi maintains that his weed-smoking ways are behind him, and promised fans that he's currently working on a jam of "current freshness." He'll also appear on the upcoming second season of HBO's "How To Make It In America," too. We'll be awaiting both projects ... while sitting on the couch, with a bag of Pirate's Booty, as the DVD menu for "Baraka" plays on repeat. For real, man.

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Snooki Steals Wrestlemania Spotlight, Our Cold Hearts

Posted 4/4/11 12:40 pm EST by in Television


On Sunday night, I ended my seven-year hiatus from professional wrestling when I attended a screening of Wrestlemania XXVII, the WWE's annual celebration of Spandex and suplexes. And almost immediately, I realized why I had decided to stop watching this stuff in the first place.

Because, boy, was the show awful. Full of bizarre bookings (Alberto Del Rio wuz robbed!), plodding matches (I'm still recovering from the Undertaker/HHH snooze-fest) and, of course, an anti-climactic finale (having The Rock bury both challenger John Cena and champion The Miz was a rather, uh, interesting choice, to say the very least), it was a listless four hours that left me feeling empty inside. And while, sure, there were a few bright spots — why has no one ever told me about this CM Punk guy?!?! — overall, I feel pretty secure saying that I can probably go another seven years without watching the WWE again. If not much, much longer.

Still, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out just how impressed I was with Snooki, who was added to the 'Mania card with much fanfare (and much derision from hard-core wrestling fans) last month, and then surprised pretty much everyone by delivering the goods on Sunday night.

I mean, sure, the Snookster didn't exactly have much to do — she was teamed with Trish Stratus and some dude named John Morrison in the so-called "Brunette Mafia" (props to Trish for keeping kayfabe alive by dying her hair brown), who took on the team of Dolph Ziggler, Michelle McCool and Layla — but in her limited action, Snooki proved that she was a stout worker, delivering a slap to Ziggler, mixing it up on the mat, and, in the bout's final spot, hitting an honest-to-goodness, across-the-ring backflip on McCool.

That move earned some actual "Ooh's" from the Georgia Dome crowd, and, after pinning McCool, Snooki stood victorious, arms raised by Stratus and Morrison. It was by no means a technical masterpiece, but as far as celebrified smackdowns go, it was pretty decent (and it was definitely better than that Big Show/Kane/Corre clusterfrick). So, why knows, perhaps Snooki has a future in the grappling business? She's already got her finisher down pat.

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What Would Taylor Swift's 'Mean' Video Look Like?

Posted 4/4/11 11:31 am EST by in Music, Taylor Swift


The Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year, Taylor Swift, took the stage on Sunday night in Las Vegas to perform her new Speak Now single, "Mean," a jangling tune about being bullied by the media.

Up until now, many of Swift's singles have been about the boys in her life. Whether she's nursing a broken heart or falling in love, her videos have featured the country-pop superstar and a model/actor in some sort of romantic entanglement.

If Taylor's ACM performance is any indication, this video could take a left turn and instead be an ode to Americana, complete with the singer's feisty swagger, lacy peasant dresses and a banjo. The set on Sunday was an ode to old Nashville. Swift and her bandmates (in vintage clothing) stood on the front porch of a rundown farmhouse as the singer proclaimed (into a retro microphone) that her own pen is mightier than some critics'.
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MTV's Musical March Madness: Green Day Vs. Paramore For The Title!

Posted 4/4/11 8:27 am EST by in Music


It's MTV's second annual Musical March Madness! MTV News took the 64 biggest names in rock, split them up into four regions, assigned them seeds and puts them up against one another in a single-elimination series of match-ups in a winner-take-all contest. We're leaving it to you to decide an actual champ in this field of 64, so over the next few weeks, fan voting will determine who will emerge as this year's champion. It's all about the fans, and the artist with the most passionate fan base will score the awesome Musical March Madness trophy!

Well, it's all come down to this: After millions of votes (and nearly as many shattered dreams), thousands of comments, 62 matchups, five rounds and three weeks, we've reached the championship game of MTV's 2011 Musical March Madness tournament: Green Day vs. Paramore, for all the marbles. Both bands have survived tough challenges to get here, but only will lay claim to the MMM title. Who will it be? Only you, the fans, know for sure.

Voting in the 2011 MMM championship game will close on Monday, April 4 at midnight ET. Oh, and since we want to keep things suspenseful, voting results — and our champion — won't be revealed until Tuesday on MTVNews.com.

(3) Green Day vs. (5) Paramore
Our championship matchup pits third-seeded Green Day against #5 Paramore, a clash of two battle-tested bands (Green Day knocked off the likes of U2, Blink-182 and Panic! at the Disco in this year’s tourney, while Paramore survived showdowns against foes like No Doubt and Tokio Hotel), that also serves as the culmination of a year-long quest for redemption: both were upset in the opening round of last year’s MMM tournament, and have spent the past 12 months seething about that fact. For one of them, the long road back will end with the MMM title. And it will be your votes that decide our winner!

Voting in our championship match-up is now closed ... to see who won the 2011 MMM title, make sure to check out MTVNews.com Tuesday afternoon!

Watch our updated look at the MMM championship game now!

Check out the Musical March Madness bracket and be take a look at the hoops-centric photos of some of the tournament's biggest bands.

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Britney Spears 'Was Smart' At Blackjack, Palms Owner Recalls

Posted 4/1/11 4:30 pm EST by in Music


This Sunday (April 3), fans will get an inside peek at Britney Spears' life and the release of her latest album, Femme Fatale, in the MTV special, "Britney Spears: I Am The Femme Fatale."

In addition to an intimate interview with Sway Calloway, Spears lets cameras inside the recording studio with her and will.i.am (who produced the track "Big Fat Bass"), as she chills with her assistant at Starbucks, and to Las Vegas as she takes the stage at the Palms Hotel and Casino for a show-stopping performance of three Femme Fatale tracks ("Hold It Against Me," "Till The World Ends" and "Big Fat Bass"). She even got an assist in the DJ booth from DJ Pauly D.

Palms owner George Maloof recalled his early days with Spears, who he has known for a decade now. "Well I've been friends with Britney for a long time just when we opened the Palms [in 2001]. I don't even think she was 21 at the time," said of the then 19-year-old star. "I remember teaching her blackjack when she was 21. She was smart. She won a bunch of money and I don’t think she ever played again."

Fans will get to see her latest performance at the Vegas venue and Maloof says that Spears has had quite a hands-on role at the hotel, who in addition to performing there several times before, has even used her interior design skills there. "We've had great moments with Britney here at the Palms. She helped design one of our suites here in the fantasy tower," he said. "She's had performances here before a few other things, so she has a history with the Palms."

Don't miss "Britney Spears: I Am the Femme Fatale," airing Sunday (April 3) at 9 p.m. ET on MTV.

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Katy Perry Believes In Aliens, Is Headed To Space: The MTV News Quote Of The Day

Posted 4/1/11 3:00 pm EST by in Music


"I'm so into extraterrestrial stuff. ... It's very difficult for me to look up into the sky in the middle of the night and not think that our planet is one of ... a bajillion. It's really, really small. And Russell and I are interested in anything extraterrestrial. I mean, we're going to space!"

-Pop sensation Katy Perry, nothing that her interest in outer space has at least partially informed "E.T.," the newest number one single from her smash second album Teenage Dream. Perry discussed her interest in the cosmos during her conversation with MTV News' Sway on "MTV First: Katy Perry's 'E.T.'" on Thursday night (March 31).

Her promise to boldly go into the outer reaches of the atmosphere is serious, too. "There's a group of people that work with Richard Branson, and he does the Virgin flights, and for Russell's birthday, I got him a flight to space. Because I just thought, 'What else can I give this man? He's had every experience in the world, but not a trip to space!'" she explained. "And so he's also always searching for what is beyond this world, and we both kind of have this same vision and are always looking for more. It will be really exciting. It's like a half-a-day trip. I think there's a lot of people who are signed up for this experience."

The video for Perry's "E.T." premiered yesterday and features the singer in a variety of extraterrestrial looks. The makeup is stunning, but it took some work to get there. "It was, like, five and six hours, each makeup look," Perry said. "It was hard for me! It was really a patience thing for me on this video. But, you know, it's like when you're doing a film. Sometimes you have to do prosthetics, and you have to get really old or turn into an animal or a monster — and that's kind of what this process was."

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Posted 4/1/11 2:04 pm EST by in Music


Miami Music Week: Which Track Reigned Supreme?

Posted 4/1/11 2:00 pm EST by in Music


By Adam Stewart

Have you recovered yet? We barely have. And now that everyone is home and chasing down the hot tunes that they can't shake from their craniums, we're asking the fans what they think the biggest track of Miami Music Week was. With so many great new tunes popping up on the scene, there are lots to choose from. Every year brings an unofficial anthem of the festival, like Pryda's "Pjanoo" in 2008, David Guetta's "When Love Takes Over" from 2009 and Swedish House Mafia's "One" in 2010. Which song from this year's version will end up permanently spinning on our iPods?

The MTV News staff has narrowed it down to what we feel the biggest tracks that we seemed to hear everywhere we went. The Swedes nearly blew up Masquerade Motel with "Save the World," and Above & Beyond's "Sun & Moon" set the Ice Palace on fire. Tiësto, Mark Knight and Dino's "Beautiful World," and the Skrillex remix of Benassi's "Cinema" were fan faves at Ultra Music Festival. And you couldn't go anywhere without hearing Calvin Harris' "Awooga," or Dirty South's remix of Diddy Dirty Money's "Coming Home."

These tracks were all the rage, and they certainly tickled our eardrums everywhere we turned. So spread the word, send to all of your friends, and rally the troops to get the most votes for your favorite. Who will come out on top? It's in your hands! And be sure to grab these tracks and more music from Miami Music week at Beatport.com!

Did we miss any songs? What are your favorites from Miami Music Week? Let us know in the comments!

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John Cena Recalls His Humble WrestleMania Beginnings

Posted 4/1/11 1:00 pm EST by in Television


This weekend, over 70,000 live fans and millions more at home will cast their eyes on WrestleMania XXVII, the biggest event of the year in professional wrestling. The show will be live from the Georgia Dome in Atlanta and will be hosted by Dwayne Johnson (who has brought "The Rock" back to the WWE). The top matches include a tilt between two legends (Triple H versus the Undertaker), a six-person tag match starring an MTV personality (John Morrison, Trish Stratus and Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi against Dolph Ziggler and LayCool) and the match for the coveted WWE Championship (current title-holder the Miz defending against John Cena).

Cena has been the perpetual headliner at WrestleMania for the better part of the past five years or so (he had been in one of the main events of each WrestleMania since 2005, and he has gone on last twice). But though he's the top guy in the company now, that was not always true. His first WrestleMania was back in 2004 when he opened up WrestleMania XX at Madison Square Garden in New York City. He took on the Big Show for the United States Championship, but before his music hit and he walked through the curtain into the arena, he admitted that he was a little bit distracted.

"I was worried my car was going to get towed," Cena admitted to MTV News at the WrestleMania press conference on Wednesday (March 30). "I was not allowed TK. It was cool because it was a moment of stardom wedged between reality. I truly love moments like that."

Being a WrestleMania veteran, Cena also offered newcomer Snooki some solid advice for her match. "I told her it's just like an afternoon at the shore," he said. "You're supposed to go out and have a good time, and if trouble starts, just keep swinging until the cops come."

What's your favorite WrestleMania moment? Let us know in the comments!

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'American Idol' Prediction Results: Naima And Thia Booted? We'll Take It

Posted 4/1/11 12:00 pm EST by in Music


In honor of baseball season, let's start out this "American Idol" prediction results story with a boys of summer analogy. If we were stepping up to the plate to swing the lumber on a crisp spring afternoon instead of hiding behind our monitors under bad fluorescent bulbs yesterday, we would have opened the 2011-2012 season batting .500.

Yeah, we all missed the boat in speculating that cheesy whiz kid Stefano Langone was going to safely float out of the waterlogged "Idol" mansion this week, but we all correctly called the end of the line for Naima Adedapo. Suspecting that her reggae queen shtick was too much for America, all three of our "Idol" experts said she would get the red, yellow and green boot. And we all picked treacly teen Thia Megia as a bottom dweller, but none of us, not one, ever expected toothy grinner Paul McDonald would land in the washout zone over corny crooner Langone!

Come on, America! Really?

"I wasn't surprised by tonight's elimination, but I would have preferred that Stefano had been sent home instead of Naima," said "Idol" blogger MJ Santilli. "Yeah, I know Stefano didn't hit the bottom three this week, but he should have. Naima was weird with her fake Jamaican accent, but at least she wasn't boring like Stefano and his New Jersey lounge act."

Santilli also lamented the sudden lack of diversity on a show with six guys and three girls and just one person of color in gospel guy Jacob Lusk. Like a lot of experts, Santilli was a bit shocked polished nice guy McDonald was nearly ousted. "But on the other hand, he really peaked in Hollywood and hasn't been the same since," she said. "It was probably a combination of a shrinking fanbase and the 'Save Casey Abrams' campaign that did him in. I would not be surprised if Casey and Paul split votes."

MTV's own "Idol" shot caller Jim Cantiello said he wasn't surprised either that Adedapo was gone after adopting her odd accent and that Megia faded after failing to connect with a wider audience on Wednesday night's (March 30) Elton John-themed show.

"I guess the big surprise that Seacrest teased was that Stefano was safe," he said. "Common sense would suggest that if he was bottom two last week and his performance this week wasn't all that different he'd wind up in the bottom again, but alas, Paul McDonald's raspy 'Rocket Man' was less than inspiring for voters."

Jim also suspected that Casey stole Paul's thunder this week and he wondered what will happened once the upswell of good will toward Casey dries up? "We might end up with a quirky boy bottom two sooner rather than later," he predicted.

After four weeks of forecasting this season, here are the current standings:

Gil Kaufman: 3-for-5

Jim Cantiello: 2-for-4

MJ Santilli: 3-for-5

Did you correctly predict Thia and Naima's exits? Do you think he deserved it? Which two will be next? Leave your comments below and let us know!

Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.

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