By Matt Thompson

In perhaps one of the oddest moments of the week, 50 Cent's crew got tangled up with longtime basketball announcer Marv Albert backstage at "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on Wednesday (November 18). 50 and Marv both appeared on the show that night, and according to the Los Angeles Times, Albert received a chilly reception from 50's entourage when he arrived at the studio. Apparently, they didn't recognize the venerable voice of the NBA, and they were under the impression he was trying to impose on 50's interview. So when the broadcaster entered the building, what went down? Punches were thrown, obscenities were spat out and things got quite hostile.

Although the details remain unclear, the 68-year-old Albert was in the middle of it all. Even when a Kimmel staffer identified Albert, 50's entourage remained unswayed. Somehow, Albert got out of there unscathed, remarking, "Did you see that? I thought they were kidding, then I realized they weren't."

Both Albert and 50 were interviewed later and neither made any reference to the incident. In their defense, most people know Albert's voice more than his face. In fact, Albert could have probably avoided the whole incident had he simply shouted "LeBron James for three! Yes!"

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.

The press push continues for Rihanna, who is coming off her big interview with Diane Sawyer last week and currently making the rounds in New York. She stopped by "It's On with Alexa Chung" on Monday (with the entire half-hour show devoted to her) and she also sat down with Sway to talk about her big collaborations, how she feels about Chris Brown and some stories behind her upcoming album Rated R (which stands for "Rihanna," not "Restricted"). Yesterday, she was spotted on the street outside the Gramercy Park Hotel, looking cool and fashion-forward as always (that is an excellent hat). She has managed to keep her name in the news, as she's got a racy new single cover and a video for "Russian Roulette" that is set to premiere this Friday.

Rihanna wasn't the only star on the move yesterday, as Shakira was caught leaving the MTV building (shortly after her conversation with MTV News' Jim Cantiello, which will be rolling out soon) and Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson were seen getting off a plane holding hands, further fueling speculation about their relationship. Click here for these photos as well as the entire "Spotted!" archive, which features over 350 candid shots of stars like Britney Spears, Madonna, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Adam Lambert, the Jonas Brothers, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Jay-Z and Mariah Carey!

In her brief but already prolific career, Rihanna has collaborated with some of the biggest stars in the business, including Justin Timberlake (on "Rehab"), T.I. (the buoyant "Live Your Life") and Ne-Yo ("Hate That I Love You"). But her two biggest tag-team efforts have been with legendary rapper Jay-Z. The first time they crossed paths was in 2007 with "Umbrella," which was just voted the best song of the decade in a recent poll. More recently, she provided the hook for "Run This Town," Jigga's big comeback single and video that also featured Kanye West. Despite the star power in the room, Rihanna said that creating that incredible jam was nothing but fun.

"They're like my brothers," Rihanna told MTV News' Sway during their interview yesterday. "Especially Jay-Z. We're really close." The singer also told Sway that "working with him was effortless but really enjoyable, and every time we perform the song it's fun." She most recently enjoyed herself this past weekend, when she joined Jay-Z on stage in Los Angeles for a performance of "Run This Town."

But what about Rihanna's other brother, the somewhat reclusive Kanye West? "I actually haven't seen him in a while," she admitted. "But last time I saw him, he was good."

For more from Rihanna, including her thoughts on the aftermath of her interview with Diane Sawyer on last week's "20/20," the concept behind her new album Rated R and her touring plans for the coming year, check out the entire "Extended Play: Rihanna" now.

The first week of November is almost behind us, and while the march toward the holidays is already on, that doesn't mean the music world took any time off. In fact, the next few weeks should be quite exciting, with oodles of new music, video and tour news coming at a rapid pace. The MTV Newsroom team will be all over everything as soon as it breaks, but for now, catch yourself up on everything that you might have missed.

» Some samples of Adam Lambert's new album hit the Web, and Jim Cantiello broke down every second of them.

» The Weezer Snuggie (or "The Wuggie") is pretty incredible, though even frontman Rivers Cuomo has no idea why.

» Both Chris Brown and Rihanna talked extensively about the assault back in February. Brown sat down with Sway to talk about the aftermath while Rihanna spoke to ABC about expectations and the future.

» Justin Bieber had a busy week: He dropped a new single, announced his golden ticket contest and impressed Ellen DeGeneres during his guest spot on her talk show.

» The Bieber performance was part of a busy week for Ellen, who also spent time scaring the heck out of Taylor Swift.
Read more...

Ever since the news broke of Chris Brown's assault on then-girlfriend Rihanna back in February, we knew what the results were but details were always hazy about what exactly lead up to Brown's actions. Some of that was cleared up this morning on "Good Morning America," where another portion of Rihanna's "20/20" interview aired. She confirmed the rumor that the argument started over a text message Brown had received from another woman. "I caught him in a lie, and he wouldn't tell the truth," she told interviewer Diane Sawyer. "I couldn't take that he kept lying to me. And he couldn't take that I wouldn't drop it, so it escalated into him being violent towards me and ... it was ugly."

She went on to describe Brown's demeanor once he became violent. "He had no soul in his eyes, just blank," she said. "He was clearly blacked out. There was no person when I looked at him. All I kept thinking the whole time: When is it going to stop?" The full interview with Rihanna airs tonight on ABC.

MTV News' Sway interviewed Brown about the case this past Monday (the result of which airs tonight at 6 p.m. on MTV as "Chris Brown: The Interview"). He talked about the many personal and public apologies he has made over the past few months. "When I apologize, I really apologize, definitely, about the situation, like me and her personally, obviously," Brown told MTV News. "We've exchanged, I've exchanged my apologies for her, but when I do it publicly, it's for [the others] I've let down: It's for the fans, it's for all the people ... even the people that have invested in me and thought that I was good enough role model." The remainder of Brown's interview, which includes details about his court-mandated community service and some explanations of some of his recent Internet postings, airs tonight at 6 p.m. on MTV.

After a few months of relative silence following his altercation with Rihanna, Chris Brown is back with a new album (Graffiti, due in stores December 8), a fresh set of singles, an otherworldly video and a "Fan Appreciation" tour. It's a long road back, and Brown is taking it one step at a time.

But plenty of questions still remain, which is why MTV News correspondent Sway traveled to Brown's home in Virginia for an extended sit-down with the singer. It was a no-holds-barred conversation, and the result will be revealed on Friday (November 6) when "Chris Brown: The Interview" airs at 6 p.m. on MTV.

Brown was ready for Sway's questions, as he said he has posed them to himself over and over again since the fateful night in February. "My thoughts [when I look back on it now] is like, 'Why did it happen?' Like, 'What was I thinking? What is wrong with you?' That's what I'm thinking with myself."

The singer said that it was "anger" that drove him to strike Rihanna, adding "Young people, we do before we think." But he's clearly struggling to make amends and figure out what he must take away from the experience. "It's like, 'How do we get past it? How do you, Chris' — talking to myself — 'how do you go from point A to point B? How do you learn from your mistakes, turn it into a positive and help other people with the situation, and at the end of the day become the person that you want to be?'"

For more, be sure to tune into "Chris Brown: The Interview," this Friday, November 6, at 6 p.m. on MTV.

"I've actually been making a lot of Yankee analogies in my interviews lately because I get asked, 'Do you feel pressure? How do you feel when someone says this? Or do you feel like you have to top yourself?' I say I do feel like I have to top myself. But I feel like I'm [Mariano] Rivera. I'm a closer."

-Fashion-forward pop superstar and New York Yankees fan Lady Gaga, explaining who she relates to on the iconic baseball team. The singer sat down for an extended interview with Sway yesterday, where she touched on the new edition of her album, her collaboration with Beyoncé and a whole host of other topics. But Gaga is also a baseball fan, and she sees a lot of herself in Rivera, the Yankees' famous closing pitcher. After suffering a loss on Sunday night in Philadelphia, the World Series returns to the Bronx tonight for Game 6, where the Yanks will try to shut the door on the Phillies and cash in on their 27th championship. Standing in their way will be Phils starting pitcher Pedro Martinez, who has a longstanding rivalry with the Yanks (he famously referred to them as his "daddy" in 2004). If all goes well for New York, Rivera should be walking onto the field around midnight tonight, and if he really wants to embrace his musical equivalent, he should really ditch his normal entrance music — Metallica's "Enter Sandman" — in favor of "Paparazzi."

After last week's tepid episodes and the disappointing departure of UFC fighter Chuck Liddell, "Dancing with the Stars" bounced back this week with a tremendous one-two punch. Monday (October 19) night's run through the dances was action-packed (and featured Kelly Osbourne's injury; she is expected to bounce back next week), while last night's episode featured an impressive tribute to Michael Jackson. The dance world certainly owes a lot to Jackson's influence, and the three-song salute ("I Want You Back," "Man in the Mirror" and "Thriller") introduced by sister La Toya not only let the professional dancers throw themselves deeply into some of Jackson's signature moves, but also showed just how much the King of Pop changed the dance world forever.

After that wildly entertaining sequence, it was more than a little bit of a comedown when Norah Jones showed up to coo a bit while two seemingly comatose dancers swayed in the foreground. If you've got a show that is going to feature a tribute to one of the most beloved pop stars and dance innovators in the history of music, why would you also book Jones? Though her performance only took a quarter of the time that the MJ tribute did, that portion of the show seemed to stretch on for an actual infinity. Even when "Dancing with the Stars" books something well, they still can't get over the idea that the results show is supposed to be boring.

But that's nitpicking, because the dances this week were pretty thrilling. Mya killed it again, Melissa Joan Hart continues to improve and Aaron Carter was also impressive (though not impressive enough to keep him out of the bottom two). He got a stay of execution, however, because Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin got the boot this week. While the departure of Liddell was disappointing because he was so entertaining, Couglin's exit is a genuine miscarriage of justice, as she was way, way better overall than many of the people left over. Clearly, the fan voting is weighted way too much (which is why the somewhat unpopular Carter keeps dancing well but continues to sit near the bottom every week). Also, the judges continue to overrate Donny Osmond. Sure, he can move, but he certainly wasn't as good as a 29 this week.

Just about anybody can still win this thing (except Michael Irvin), so the next few weeks should be pretty cutthroat. Dance on!

We already know that last month's MTV Video Music Awards brought together host Russell Brand and Rivers Cuomo collaborator Katy Perry. Now it seems like a professional relationship might have got its start that night at Radio City Music Hall.

Yesterday on Twitter, Justin Bieber approached Diddy about a collaboration. "Do you want this song I produced and sing on on your album?" he asked the legendary hip-hop mogul. He then followed up with a series of tweets to try to rally his followers. "Everyone tell @iamdiddy we need to make this J Bieber / P Diddy collab song happen," he wrote. He later re-tweeted a note from one of his followers that suggested that people on Twitter make "#diddyandbieber" a trending topic.

Clearly, his persistence paid off, as Diddy responded to one of Bieber's tweets. "Send me the song," Diddy wrote. "I'll check it out. Thanks."

Could we be hearing Bieber's voice on Last Train to Paris, or might Diddy be dropping some knowledge on Bieber's full-length debut? No matter what becomes of this new team-up, we can safely say that MTV News provided the platform for their first meeting. During the VMA Pre-show, Sway talked to Bieber and Diddy (accompanied by Dirty Money) simultaneously, noting that it was the first time the two had crossed paths. Though they didn't converse during the segment, they did agree that it was important to carry on the legacy of Michael Jackson. Check out the opening minutes of what could be a fruitful professional relationship.

"The thing about zombies is they're conceivable. I don't really know vampires, in a real world, if those kind of people can really exist, because they don't breathe anything. Zombies could really happen. It could be a plague or an outbreak and it's conceivable that people could turn into crazy flesh-eating monsters at any given moment. So it's almost a little scarier. Vampires are a little more fantastical and fun to think about, but I don't think they could actually happen. Zombies could."

-"Zombieland" star Emma Stone on why zombies frighten her more than vampires — and which ones she believes in more. The 20-year-old actress ("Superbad," "The House Bunny") stars alongside Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson and Abigail Breslin in the new splatter comedy opening tomorrow (Friday). "Zombieland" also features one of the greatest cameos of all time (a cameo that was supposed to go to the late Patrick Swayze) and lots of "Shaun of the Dead"-esque horror comedy. It's a busy month for Stone, who is not only opening "Zombieland" this week but also has the comedy "Paper Man" (which also stars Jeff Daniels and Ryan Reynolds) coming to the Hamptons International Film Festival next week.