Weezer's new album Raditude contains a number of songs that represent the latest in a series of departures for the band. On their last album, band members Brian Bell and Pat Wilson were much more involved in the songwriting process, and they even took lead vocals on a few songs. This time around, Rivers opened the doors for a number of people outside the Weezer camp, including members of the All-American Rejects as well as Jermaine Dupri and Lil Wayne on a song called "Can't Stop Partying." But there is one person that Cuomo wanted to work with on the album but was undone by timing and logistics.
"One of the things I'm really looking forward to trying is writing a country song," Cuomo told MTV News on the set of the band's video shoot for Raditude's first single "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To." "I reached out to some Nashville writers, and they're all down, but they all want me to go to Nashville. I'm a big fan of Tim McGraw, so maybe it'll be some kind of evil spawn of Weezer and Tim McGraw."
Weezer's collaborations won't be ending when the record is released on November 3, as they're also once again working with the Muppets on an album. According to Cuomo, the band is halfway through recording "The Rainbow Connection" for Muppets Remastered, an album of Muppet-centric tunes set to come out early next year. The band last collaborated with everyone's favorite foam friends in 2002 on the "Keep Fishin'" video, one of several hits from the band's fourth album Maladroit.
Fifteen-year-old singer Justin Bieber has already scored himself a Canadian Platinum single, has a hit video (with a second on the way) and legions of fans. The attention has driven him from his hometown of Stratford, Ontario, to Atlanta, so that he can be closer to his mentor Usher and better focus on making his debut album My World. The transition has been dramatic for Bieber, who went from a small town with a population of under 30,000 to a city of millions.
Everybody knows about Atlanta, a city full of hot hip-hop (Jermaine Dupri, Outkast, Ludacris and Lil Jon all count the A-T-L as home), workmanlike baseball and Coca-Cola. But what about Stratford, Ontario?
Bieber's hometown was originally named for Stratford-upon-Avon, the town in England that William Shakespeare called home. Not surprisingly, the biggest annual event in town is the Shakespeare festival, which actually attracts top-shelf acting talent (Alec Guinness, Judy Dench and, uh, William Shatner have all performed at the festival). Though it's a small burg, Stratford has still produced a handful of other musical talents. In addition to Bieber, Stratford served as the hometown for world music singer Loreena McKennit and Richard Manuel, the late multi-instrumentalist for the Band. And it wouldn't be a town in Canada unless it had a hockey arena, and the William Allman Memorial Arena is actually one of the oldest in the province and currently serves as the home of the Stratford Cullitons. (What's a Culliton? Though their mascot is a Native American warrior, the team is actually named after a local construction company. Capitalism!)
Bieber is a long way from home (both physically and metaphorically), but he relishes the fact that he has a sudden worldliness to him. "I didn't get to travel a lot before I did this," he told MTV News recently. "So that's a bonus."
Count Janet Jackson as the latest musician to buy a ticket to ride on the Twitter express. The singer launched her official Twitter feed last week, and though she only has two tweets in nine days, she has already broken some news. First, she announced that she recently wrapped production on "Why Did I Get Married Too," Tyler Perry's latest film. The sequel to "Why Did I Get Married?" (which also featured Janet in a starring role) is currently scheduled for release in April of next year.
But perhaps the bigger news was the addendum on her last tweet. Janet wrote that she is "looking forward to getting started on my new album!" Her next project should be quite the affair, as she has no shortage of personal stories to write about: There's the death of her brother Michael, her taxing Rock Witchu tour, the end of her seven year relationship with Jermaine Dupri and the termination of her label deal.
Janet's approach to Twitter will be fascinating. Will she use it simply as a promotional tool or will she become an over-sharer like John Mayer or Miley Cyrus? Will she take the Mariah Carey route and use it to build strangely influential relationships with her fans? Will she simply rap in the guise of an injured MC's body part? (That last one seems unlikely.) Regardless, the next few months will probably be busy for Janet, as she'll be working on the album, still dealing with the aftermath of Michael's death (including the possible care of his children) and working out a business deal for distribution and promotion for her upcoming projects. Regardless, Janet's next album will immediately become one of the most hotly-anticipated of the year when it finally rolls out.
By Steven Roberts
Jermaine Dupri got a head start on the party here at
Lollapalooza last night when the Atlanta impresario DJed a set last night at Underground
here in Chicago.
Last year Katy Perry took the stage at Underground for own Pre-Lolla celebration at
Underground. The pop pin-up unexpectedly performed "Ur So Gay," "Hot n Cold" and - what would a Katy Perry show be without - "I Kissed a Girl" to packed house. While the crowd certainly wasn't expecting the JD to hit the stage, they were hyped to hear how good of a DJ the So So Def head honcho was.
I actually was enjoying the previous DJ. I don't know the guys name, but he spun some tracks I hadn't heard in years. When is the last time you heard Hi-Five's "I Like The Way (Kissing Game)?" But as the clock struck midnight, and the crowd began to fill in, it was evident that they hadn't come to hear sped up early 90's R&B jams - their loss.
Read more...
There aren't too many artists in music who can be called legends, but Mariah Carey is definitely one of them.
I haven't had many opportunities in my career to interview her, but when the opportunity arises to chop it up with an artist who has sold over 175 million records worldwide, then it's my pleasure.
With her new album Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel (look out for Mariah's story behind the album title on MTV News) almost complete, it's an interesting time to catch up with MC.
Uptown at BET's "106 & Park," Mariah was premiering her new video for her remix of "Obsessed," featuring Gucci Mane, one of the hottest MCs in the game. Not enough is said about Carey's ear for hip-hop. Don't forget that she was the artist who collaborated with rappers like Jay-Z, ODB, Nas and the Lox early on in their careers. Gucci Mane is another great choice.
It's not difficult to know when Mariah is in the building. Read more...
One of the predominant issues in the time following the death of Michael Jackson has been over the custody of his three children. The hearings surrounding custody keep getting postponed, but the issue is between Debbie Rowe (who is the mother of Jackson's two oldest children, Prince Michael and Paris) and the Jackson family (who say that Katherine, Jackson's mother, was named as legal guardian in Michael's will and thus should raise the kids). Recently, Janet Jackson has become more active in the fight for the children, reportedly offering to raise them herself.
Yesterday, we took to the street to ask whether or not you think Janet would make a good mother, with 63% agreeing that she would. But is Janet, who is 43 years old and only recently broke off a long term relationship with producer and label mogul Jermaine Dupri, really interested in raising kids? According to an interview she gave in Norway in 1995, she completely embraces the idea.
"Not right now, but some day. I'd love to have children," she said while on the road for her greatest hits album Design of a Decade. "I'd love to!" And despite her family's checkered history with show business, she says she would encourage any child who wants to act or sing. "They just have to understand how difficult it really is, and how lonely it can be at times."
By Selina Kaye
Canadian rapper Drake's "Best I Ever Had" single is not only a smash for him, but it's becoming one of the best remixed tracks of the summer. The latest entry comes from self-professed "King of Remixes" Trey Songz, who dropped his track via his Twitter account.
"In the studio tryna paint a musical Picasso," he wrote of the track.
It's not the first time Drake and Trey Songz have collaborated on a song — they previously released "Successful" and "Replacement Girl" together. In the remix of "Best I Ever Had," he tweaks the lyrics slightly, so instead of "Baby you my everything/ You're all I ever wanted," it's now "She said I'm her everything/ I'm all she ever wanted." The track retains the same charm and smoothness as the original with an extra dash of theatricality and swagger care of Songz.
Just as we did when comparing Songz to fellow remixer R. Kelly, I took the temperature of the Newsroom to see what the prevailing opinion was of Trey's "Best I Ever Had." The overall consensus? Hot!
In addition to tossing off remixes, Trey Songz has signed up to be part of a new collaboration called Ocean's 7. The group consists of Jermaine Dupri, Usher, Nelly, Bryan-Michael Cox, Tyrone Davis and Johnta Austin. The group takes it's name from the film Ocean's 11 and was apparently created when Jermaine Dupri and Bryan Michael Cox were in Las Vegas working in the studio with Usher. The group, who fashion themselves after the original Rat Pack, has already dropped a mixtape called 3000 and 9 S---, as well as a video for a song called "So Much Swagg."
What do you think: Is Trey Songz the current remix king, or is there somebody else out there churning out superior tracks? Leave your thoughts in the comments or head over to Your.MTV.com to make your voice heard!
Today we consider Jermaine Dupri, the Atlanta-based label head, producer, rapper and songwriter who has found himself in the news recently. Dupri will soon take the stand as a witness in the trial of Arvin Edwards, the gunman involved in the infamous Adam "Pacman" Jones "Make it rain" incident at a strip club in Las Vegas. Durpi recently defended his actions, which were made public in a video of the incident that recently hit the Internet. "You're not supposed to get your money until the dance is finished," explained Dupri. "I'm from Atlanta — we do this every day." Many people in the media have also brought up the fact that Dupri, who has been in a relationship with Janet Jackson since 2002, has been absent from any of the memorials for Michael Jackson (with multiple sources reporting that their relationship has ended).
But there was a time when being Jermaine Dupri was simpler — when it was all about hanging out with Jay-Z, producing Da Brat albums and developing the careers of pre-teen rap stars (see Kris Kross and Bow Wow). Dupri's first album as a rapper, titled (quizzically) Life in 1472: The Original Soundtrack, came out this day in 1998 and contained the hit Jigga collaboration "Money Ain't a Thang" (which contains one of Jay's all-time greatest lines: "Said she loved my necklace/ Started relaxin'/ Now that's what the f--- I call a chain reaction"). If "money ain't a thang," then why did Dupri get so upset at the strippers who were grabbing money before the song ended? A lot can change in 11 years, apparently.
There's no official word on whether or not Mariah Carey's new single "Obsessed" is about Eminem, but there is plenty of evidence that suggests it. While it's a catchy song and may end up being the summer jam of '09, it falls pretty flat as an Eminem dis.
Plenty of artists have attacked Em over the course of his 10-year career, and all of managed to fall flat on their faces. It's not surprising, as Marshall Mathers is one of the most formidable battle rappers ever to storm on the scene (his schooling of Papa Doc at the end of "8 Mile" is pretty accurate). It also doesn't help that most of the MCs who have gone after Em haven't exactly been heavyweights. Does Mariah sit at the top of the heap? Here are the other contenders.
» Everlast, "Whitey's Revenge": Eminem's exchange with the former House of Pain rapper was based mostly on the perception that neither one respected the other. It produced several tracks on both sides, but while "Whitey's Revenge" is pretty tight, Eminem's track "I Remember" is absolutely savage, ranking up there with some of his best dis work. Advantage: Eminem
Read more...
By Jayson Rodriguez
LeBron James and company might have left Orlando on Sunday night with their heads down after losing to the Magic, leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers down 2-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals.
But Cavaliers minority owner Usher was in good spirits as he took in the NBA playoff series from his courtside seat, and he even brought a friend — embattled R&B singer Chris Brown — with him to Game 3. Of course, earlier this year Usher courted controversy by telling Brown, on a video posted on Jermaine Dupri's Web site, to "have a little remorse" over his alleged altercation with Rihanna; photos had emerged of Brown gleefully riding a jet ski that week. Usher later apologized for the remark.
The two singers chatted it up throughout the game, which may have provided Brown with some distraction from his upcoming court appearance later this week.
