Most Thanksgiving traditions involve food, and the rest all involve television. There is always football on, the evening inevitably ends up centered around the worst movie you can find and the morning always starts with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Every year, there is always a heavy emphasis on music from marching bands, Broadway stars and rock groups alike, and this year's is no different. While they will probably never reach the apex they hit at last year's parade (which featured an appearance by Rick Astley, possibly the greatest Rickroll in history), there are still plenty of opportunities for music to shine on Turkey Day.

Perhaps the most notable act at event is Boys Like Girls, who will perform their new single "Two is Better Than One" during the parade. That particular tune features a guest vocal by none other than Taylor Swift, who is not scheduled to be in New York that day, though her drop-in would be an especially ratings-friendly surprise. Boys Like Girls are currently on tour with Cobra Starship, but after getting national exposure on one of the bigger television events of the year, look for them to break out big soon.

The other big guest appearance will be Jimmy Fallon and the Roots, who will be rolling on a float and (theoretically) kicking up some Thanksgiving jams. (Who doesn't want to hear how Black Thought freestyles on topics like "cranberry sauce" and "tryptophan"?) Again, hopefully Fallon will grab a little more attention for his excellent late-night show, which is worth tuning into if only to see the Roots play every night of the work week.

The rest of the lineup is typically eclectic, featuring Andrea Bocelli, Gloria Gaynor, Katharine McPhee, Jay Sean, Ziggy Marley and, of course, Kermit the Frog.

Every day a multitude of stars wanders through the halls of MTV News to talk about their latest projects and goof around with our intrepid correspondents. But sometimes we catch stars elsewhere, and that's why we put together Spotted!, a daily compendium of stars in the wild.

Monday night (November 23) saw the premiere of the musical "Fela!" While the show celebrates the excellent and revolutionary music of Fela Kuti (who pioneered Afrobeat and gave birth to the roots of funk), the big headlines have come from the high-profile producers. The show ran into financial trouble early, until the likes of Will Smith and Jay-Z stepped up to provide backing for what they believed was an important story that needed to be told. Jigga walked the red carpet for the opening of "Fela!" last night and expressed his enthusiasm for the late Nigerian superstar. "It's an inspiration, about the power of music. Here's a guy that's on the other side of the world who was influenced by James Brown, who takes this thing and makes his own sort of genre of music," Jay said. "I just think it's fascinating."

Jay wasn't the only star on the "Fela!" red carpet last night (he was joined by the likes of Smith, Ben Stiller and Jimmy Fallon), nor was he the only star hitting the street (Zac Efron and Amber Rose both showed up to the premiere of "Me and Orson Welles" in New York). And this morning, both Rihanna and Alicia Keys performed on early morning shows. Click here for these photos plus the entire "Spotted!" archive, which contains more than 350 candid shots of stars like Britney Spears, Madonna, the Jonas Brothers, Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey, Adam Lambert, Lady Gaga, Chris Brown and Shakira!

The Dirty Projectors' four-night run in the New York City area ended Sunday evening with some help from their Dark Was the Night compatriot David Byrne and new pals the Roots, who both joined the Brooklyn fivesome on-stage to help kick out some jams.

The Roots complemented the Projectors' sound nicely, lending hard grooves to the band's already large tendency to groove hard, adding some funk to DP's already-dense tracks. "No Intentions" included a long guitar solo by the Roots' "Captain" Kirk Douglas and ?uestlove added some awesome thump to crowd favorite "Stillness Is the Move."

But it was David Byrne's appearance on "Knotty Pine" that drew the largest chorus of praise (just like at Bonnaroo this past summer). The Dirty Projectors have always drawn some comparisons to the Talking Heads' appropriation of Afro-centric influences, and as such, Byrne's support of the Brooklyn natives has always seemed destined. The rusty "Knotty Pine" was a short and sweet way to finish the set which had the crowd losing their minds in the end. Their serendipitous show at the Bowery Ballroom put yet another feather in the cap of the Brooklyn up-and-comers who are already having one heck of a year.

"The Twilight Saga: New Moon" opened up to a record-busting weekend, bringing in over $140 million over the weekend (making it the third-largest film opening of all time, behind "Spider-Man 3" and "The Dark Knight"). Certainly the business generated by the second film in the series was due to the buzz created by stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart last week. The promotional push doesn't slow down this week on the TV talk shows, many of which are dark or running limited schedules because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Tonight, Ashley Greene will try to follow Pattinson's appearance on "The Late Show with David Letterman," while co-star Taylor Lautner will be Conan O'Brien's guest on "The Tonight Show."

Letterman also has some top-shelf musical talent this week, as he welcomes Rihanna on Tuesday night (November 24) and Adam Lambert on Wednesday (November 25). Conan, meanwhile, has Timbaland on tonight and Weezer on Tuesday. Need more Weezer? Check them out on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" tonight. Kimmel will also have Wolfmother and the winner of "Dancing with the Stars" (almost certainly Mya) on Tuesday.

Perhaps the strangest encounter this week will happen on "The Jay Leno Show," which tonight not only has California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger but also Lady Gaga, who is coming off a triumphant performance at last night's American Music Awards. Hardcore hip-hop heads can look forward to Jimmy Fallon's show every night (because you always get killer stuff from the Roots), but Wednesday night's episode of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" will feature a performance from Mos Def and Talib Kweli, who collaborated on the legendarily great album Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star and will no doubt throw down something fierce with the house band. But the story is still "New Moon" and probably will be for some time.

Back in the late 1990s (when album sales were robust and a CDs actual release date was more important than its leak date), every Tuesday in November and December was a "Super Tuesday," usually featuring a handful of big-name releases all hitting stores at the same time. Artists competed for gargantuan first-week album sales and spots on "TRL." 10 years ago, November 2 was one of those massive Tuesdays, featuring a handful of big acts putting out new, high-profile records. Foo Fighters dropped There's Nothing Left to Lose (their most successful album and the winner of the Grammy for Best Rock Album in 2000). On the same day, Mariah Carey unleashed Rainbow, lead by the smash hit "Heartbreaker" (a collaboration with Jay-Z). Counting Crows busted out their third release This Desert Life, which picked up some traction when first single "Hanginaround" became something of a graduation anthem for high school seniors. Lil Wayne put out Tha Block is Hot, his watershed solo debut on Cash Money. Elsewhere in hip-hop, Flipmode Squad's Rah Digga released her underrated solo debut Dirty Harriet, while the Roots put out their excellent live album The Roots Come Alive.

But with all those names putting out albums on November 2, 1999, who played live on "TRL" that day? Rage Against the Machine, who performed in Times Square to celebrate the release of their third album The Battle of Los Angeles, their most accomplished, complex and mature album. Lead by the single "Guerrilla Radio," the band balanced the savagery of Tom Morello's guitar assault with the funky low end and Zack De La Rocha's pointed agit-prop rapping. The band broke up soon after but reunited a few years back, though The Battle of Los Angeles was the last original album they put out. But it still holds up, and it's amazing to think that a collective could be so well versed in politics but also know how to move a crowd so well. Check out the excellent video for "Guerrilla Radio."

By Steven Roberts

The BET Awards aired last night, and there were plenty of memorable moments. Jay-Z and Young Jeezy opened the show with a performance of "As Real as it Gets," Hov took home the MVP of the Year Award and Ice Cube was honored with the "I Am Hip-Hop" lifetime achievement award for "knockin' n----s out the box, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly." There were also performances from Snoop, Gucci Mane — excuse me, GUCCI! — and the recently-reunited Goodie Mob.

But the main segments everyone is talking about this morning are the three cyphers that took place during the show, most notably the cypher featuring Mos Def, Black Thought of the Roots and Eminem. Half of the MTV Newsroom is still debating who came the hardest.

Mos Def started off the cypher introducing the three MCs and proclaiming that since they were in his hometown, "I gotta do this for Brooklyn." The Mighty Mos proceeded to shout out various blocks in the borough in his freestyle. Black Thought represented for Philly and completely blacked out. And Eminem brought up the rear and completely murdered it. Slim Shady blended the pill-popping, inane pop culture references and amazing lyrical talent that everyone was expecting from Rehab.

There were also plenty of stand-outs from the first two cyphers. The first saw Nicki Minaj switch up her cadence between her regular high-pitched voice to an even squeakier animated one, while Joe Budden brought the same lyrical prowess that has made him such a polarizing figure. The second was a blend of teachers and students: Old-schooler KRS-One introduced newcomers Wale, Nipsey Hussle and Tunisian MC Gsan, each of whom threw down like veterans.

What do you think? Did Eminem steal the cypher or should the lyrical crown be given to Black Thought or Mos Def? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

If you're like me, you woke up Tuesday morning (like, really, really early), stumbled down to your underground media bunker (not as sexy as it sounds) and did a triple take when you saw the phrase "Har Mar Superstar" at the very top of Google Trends. Like, above Rudolph Valentino and the hot Mormon muffins calendar.

But we were probably confused for different reasons. See, I know who Har Mar is. In fact, I'm a huge fan of the balding, tubby Minnesota hunk of white funk thunder who bears an uncanny resemblance to Jon Lovitz' character in "The Critic." The singer (who also records under the name Sean Na Na and whose given name is Sean Tillman) has been making waves the past few weeks thanks to the outrageously weird video for the first single, "Tall Boy," from his new album, Dark Touches. In case you haven't seen it, two words will suffice: Eva Mendes.

Har Mar, whom "Late Night" host Jimmy Fallon referred to as "one of the most unique performers" to emerge over the past few years, likely got the Google bump after a bigger slice of America caught wind of his unique stylings on Fallon's Monday night show. Wearing an African-themed caftan, gold lamé cocktail gloves and red pants, the diminutive funkster shimmied across the stage, whipped his ape drape around and proved for the umpteenth time that you can't judge a book by its cover.

The slinky performance of the shimmery funk tune that appears to swing both ways and which allegedly was offered to Britney Spears first, prompted Fallon to refer to Har Mar as a "legend." It also drew praise from house band drummer ?uestlove of the Roots, who tweeted, "Hahahaha told my band they weren't ready for Har Mar Superstar," and Fallon himself, who added, "Har Mar Superstar done gone and did it on tonight's show."

Here's everything else you need to know about Har Mar: he often ends up nearly nude during his shows (trust me, he gave my friend a very sweaty, intimate hug at a club show a few years ago that she will never forget), his 2004 album, The Handler has at least four absolutely classic, very nasty electro funk tunes on it ("Body Request," "Cut Me Up," "Back the Camel Up" and "Bird in the Hand”) and he made a cameo in the 2004 movie "Starsky and Hutch" as "Dancin' Rick," a disco champ who takes on Ben Stiller's David Starsky.

The World Series is set, and starting Wednesday night (October 28), the showdown will be on between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies. Though the storied Yankees have won a total of 26 championships, it's the Phillies who walk in as the defending champions. The Phils and the Yanks don't have a whole lot of history against one another (they've only played 25 games over the past 100 years, including a Yankees sweep of the Phillies in the 1950 World Series), there's still no love lost between Philadelphia and New York. After all, the Phillies do have a pretty cutthroat rivalry with the New York Mets, and there are also long-standing rivalries in hockey (Flyers and Rangers), football (Giants and Eagles) and basketball (76ers and Knicks).

Of course, the music world is choosing sides as well. It's already been announced that Jay-Z and Alicia Keys will be performing "Empire State of Mind" during the opening game on Wednesday night, and a mini-rivalry has already erupted on Twitter between Keys and Phillies fan Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson of the Roots.

What other Phils fan is ready for the Series? Legendary Philadelphia turntable spinner and producer DJ Jazzy Jeff. He stopped by the office to talk about his new Michael Jackson-centric mixtape He's the King, I'm the DJ (a play on his famous album with Will Smith He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper), and he said that his team has the champion's advantage.

"The Yankees are going up against the defending world champions," Jeff told MTV News. "I don't think you can just walk in the door and give it to the Yankees. I think the Yankees might be nervous about the Phillies."

Memo to New York DJs and rappers: Them's fightin' words.

By Chelsea Devine

At this point, there is little doubt that the soundtrack to "New Moon," the next entry in the "Twilight" series, is going to be in constant rotation on all of our iPods this year. Between Grizzly Bear, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke and Death Cab for Cutie, who could deny such musical greatness? Add to that the beautiful and talented Lykke Li, whose brand new single "Possibility" is being released exclusively on the soundtrack, which hits stores on October 20. With the release date fast approaching, Lykke Li paid a visit to the MTV Newsroom.

The Swedish electro-pop songstress sat down with MTV News' James Montgomery to discuss her unexpected participation with the "New Moon" soundtrack. But she also dove into a discussion of everything else that was going on in her musical life and beyond. She mentioned her endless appreciation for all things hip-hop, name-checking the Pharcyde, MF Doom, A Tribe Called Quest and the Roots. As Lykke continued to drop names like Royksopp and fellow "New Moon" contributors Grizzly Bear and Yorke, I realized I could listen to her talk about music for hours.

If her soft-spoken and mesmerizing vocals aren't enough to sweep you off your feet, her compassionate, friendly demeanor and killer knack for musical experimentation certainly will. In an oversized fur jacket and combat boots, her outfit was far away from her relatable and empathetic character. She is proud to be a part of the emotional attachment girls across the globe have for "Twilight," as she openly discussed her own emotional experiences with heartache and heartthrobs — essentially, everything "Twilight" stands for.

When the interview was over, I came to firm conclusion: I want Lykke Li to be my best friend.

By Hillary Crosley

Who knew a record label started in a New York University dorm room could become so successful? Apparently Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin. The two created Def Jam Records 25 years ago, and it's become one of hip-hop's premiere labels, housing some of the brightest stars, with Nas, LL Cool J, etc etc among the artists in its legendary catalogue. So it's no surprise that "VH1's Hip Hop Honors" is celebrating the storied label this year.

MTV News checked out the rehearsal for the big show, which tapes on Wednesday night (September 23) at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and airs on October 13. For the third year in a row, Tracy Morgan will serve as host. Morgan's comedy skits appear between behind-the-scenes interviews with Jay-Z, Island Def Jam Music Group Chairman Antonio "LA" Reid, Russell Simmons, Rick Rubin and former Def Jam executives Lyor Cohen, Julie Greenwald and Kevin Liles.

Public Enemy, the Roots and Street Sweeper Social Club (comprised of Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello and the Coup's Boots Riley) practiced for their performance first. Ashanti followed, reuniting for two jams with her longtime partner-in-crime Ja Rule. Rule looked and sounded just as he did in 2001. Ashanti even helped out Rule on one song, rapping his lyrics in a faux-gravely voice to a giggling set full of dancers.

Up next, Warren G and Trey Songz performed a remix of one of Warren's biggest hits (which we can't reveal). During their performance, Ghostface was sitting at a table taping a segment called "What Would Ghostface Do?" where MCs stop by and ask Ghost for advice. As he wrapped up a session with Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes, Ghost spotted Warren G and gave him a big hello. Meanwhile, Travis went back to hosting a VH1 trivia segment where all of the performers are quizzed on their Def Jam history. Who knows their hip-hop math? Let's just say that Rick Ross might be the subject's star pupil.

Back on the stage, Ludacris (who'd just gotten off a plane) hopped on stage with Southern rap legend Scarface for two cuts that you haven't heard in awhile. Read more...