The first time I heard the track "Day 'N' Night" was when my friend DJ Jus Ske played it at a club in New York last year. The club erupted almost immediately, which is rare for a new track from a relative unknown. For weeks I played that track over and over. And then, when I heard the opening lines, "We born to die ... so I get high just like I'm born to fly" on the Jim Jones remix, I became even more obsessed

Kid Cudi — one of our "MCs to Watch in 2009" — has spent the last few months of his life on a rollercoaster. From travelling to Hawaii to work with Kanye on 808s and Heartbreak to headlining his own tours, Cudi has been making the transition, slowly but surely, from underground MC to international rapper. Recently, Cudi took time out from playing gigs, working in the studio and getting in trouble at Reebok events for a sit-down interview here at MTV News. Read More...

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Calling all "America's Best Dance Crew" fans: I've got good news!

As you know, the "ABDC" season-three finale is on Thursday, and just like last year, MTV News will join in on the celebration as we host the preshow and the post-show live.

The show is still coming together, but you can expect to see all the crews return for what will be one of the biggest dance-offs in "ABDC" history. We're going to be there to speak to all the crews in the moments leading up to the main show, and then we will be the first to speak to the winners, the runners-up, the judges and, if you're lucky, even the big dawg himself, Randy Jackson.

Season three has already been one of the most heated competitions on TV this year. We're down to the final two: Quest Crew and Beat Freaks.

All you die-hard "ABDC" fans out there: Who's going to win it? And what question would you like to ask your favourite crew? I'll take the best questions and ask them live on air before and after Thursday's finale.

If a grown man who occasionally dresses up in women's clothing, complete with a blonde wig and fake boobs (purely for comedic purposes of course), and who has a very unhealthy obsession with all things pop culture ("American Idol," "The Hills," "ABDC" ... you name it, he loves it) asks you if he can borrow your beloved dog for a shoot — you probably would say, "NO!"

But not when it’s Jim Cantiello from MTV "Detox"!

I've sat next to MTV's resident pop-culture expert Jim for the last two years and from my very first day, my eyes and ears were well and truly forced open to the world of "Project Runway," "ABDC," kitsch YouTube clips, trashy blog sites and yes ... "American Idol" (thanks, Jim!).

But one thing fans of "Detox" should know about Jim is that he has an obsession greater than all the others put together: Jim Cantiello is a big animal lover. Read More...

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The Comedian's blood-splattered smiley-face pin is one of the most iconic symbols in the comic book world, so when I hosted the latest "Watchmen" edition of our hit MTV Movies show "Spoilers" last night at the Pacific Design Centre in Los Angeles, I thought it would be a nice addition to my outfit.

After all, with the beautiful Kimmy Stolz co-hosting in a little green dress, I had to do a little something to hold my own — plus, I have to admit, wearing the Comedian's pin appealed to my geek side.

However, as it turns out, the "Watchmen" pin is not exactly the easiest thing to find in L.A.

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Flavor Flav I fly a lot with this job so, over the years, I've sat next to all sorts — big, small, old, young, hot, gross, talkative, moody, neat-freaks and people that desperately need a shower. It's been a mixed bunch, but never quite like the person I sat next to on one particular flight.

On occasion I check to see the name of the person next to me at check-in. This time there was just one seat left next to a Mr. William Drayton Jr. Couldn't be too bad — sounded like a posh old guy, the type that would wear a suit and have nothing in common with me, so there'd be no need to chat.

I was one of the last to board the plane and was surprised to see that there was still no one sitting in the seat next to me — for the next 10 minutes the plane waited on the runway while the airport located Mr. William Drayton.

Then, out of nowhere, a loud voice from the front of the plane yelled "FLAVOR FLAV!!!!" WTF?

(What did Flavor Flav have in store for Tim Kash? Find out after the jump!)
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The first time I ever flew to New York was about six years ago, to interview an artist whose single "In Da Club" had just dropped.

Six years on, 50 Cent is still going hard. He's arguably the most internationally successful hip-hop artist in the game — 50 has elevated himself beyond the world of rap into movies, philanthropy, clothing and above all, business! But with all the executive swagger that 50 has, one thing he never steps away from is beef.

I doubt anyone — any artist, anyway — in music has ever had as much rivalry as 50 Cent, and that's just with other recording artists! From the LOX, Fat Joe, Nas, Irv Gotti, DJ Khaled, Ja Rule, Kanye West, T.I., Camron, Diddy, Game, Cassidy, Young Buck, R. Kelly (50 dissed him at SummerJam), Big Pun, Jay-Z ... from his early record "How to Rob," 50 has never been afraid to go at anyone, whether jokingly or seriously. Even Oprah wasn't safe!
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It's literally taken two whole days for me to start feeling back to normal after the mammoth trip back from Kenya, Africa.

As we arrived back in New York, the ice-cold wind hit us like a bus — a dramatic change from Kenya's 104-degree heat.

But it was good to be home.

Thinking back to the last ">five days that we spent in Africa, renovating the Omindo School in Lihanda, Kenya, and building a fully functioning computer lab complete with Internet (a first for the kids of the region) — Kenya really is a world apart from life here in New York.


Tim Kash

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Tim KashToday, in Kenya, I had an entirely new experience, one that I am grateful to have had.

I never liked school much as a kid, and I certainly could have been more attentive in class. But then again, I wasn't really built for school — or maybe, my school wasn't really built for me.

While the cameras were rolling on something else, I strolled into a classroom in the school we're visiting, where the final year children (14-15 years old) were waiting quietly for their teacher to arrive. I don't really know how it happened. I walked in just to say hi, and the next thing I know, I was being bombarded with questions. These kids have an insatiable appetite for knowledge and are incredibly keen to learn new things. It's amazing! All throughout Kenya, one thing I've seen in every young person I've spoken to is a real determination and desire to make their lives better. And here in Kenya, it all starts with school. School is not just the place they go to learn, but a place where they can get a guaranteed and regular meal every day. The prospect of food alone has been enough to raise attendance levels in school higher and higher each year.

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Tim KashIt's a 50-minute drive through the Kenyan countryside to the school in Lahunda — a stone's throw away from Obama's Kenyan hometown. The long road there is in pretty good condition, until you get to the dirt-road intersection that leads directly to the school. Even our Safari-edition Land Rover 4x4 had to take it slow over the four-kilometer stretch of dirt road, which is used by many 6- to 13-year-old children every day in the blistering heat — and night, where there is no light whatsoever to see where you're walking. So, we haven't even reached the school, but we've already encountered a major problem with a not-so-simple solution: With very little money to spare, fixing a four-kilometer uphill rocky dirt road is not even an option.

The reason we're here is to get hands-on — to help with and document the amazing work a fantastic organization called Millennium Promise is doing here in Kenya. The Omindo Primary School in Lahunda, Kenya, is just one of 31 schools that the organization has been transforming, rebuilding and creating a self-sustaining infrastructure for for the past five years. In this instance, we are here to build a brand-new computer lab — complete with Internet connections — giving these children a connection to the world. Read More...

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It just hit me: I haven't slept more than an hour in the last 24 hours, but still I'm wide awake — and no, before you say it, my alertness is not chemically enhanced! After going to sleep at 3 a.m. and then being woken up exactly 60 minutes later by that annoying BlackBerry alarm (easily one of the most hated noises in the world, with the possible exception of Hanson), the team and I were once again in our convoy headed to the airport ... AGAIN.

But really, there is no time to be tired today. Our flight left Nairobi, Kenya, at 5 a.m. Almost as soon as we had taken off and reached cruising altitude it was time to touch down just 25 minutes later in Kisumu, Kenya. For the second time in my life (the first was in Aspen, Colorado), the plane came to a stop on the runway, the doors opened and we walked across the runway to the terminal. Read More...

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