Perhaps inspired by Lil Wayne's new song about him, Kobe Bryant powered the Los Angeles Lakers to victory in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night.

Kobe once again led the way for Los Angeles, as his 29 points and 8 assists helped the Lakers top the Orlando Magic in overtime, 101-96. The win gave the Lakers a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

The veteran guard has played two of his best finals games ever since Wayne released a new pro-Kobe track last week titled, naturally enough, "Kobe Bryant."

Coincidence? Probably. It likely has more to do with his team taking a butt-whipping from the Celtics in the first two games of last year's championship.

Among the many stars spotted watching Bryant's performance yesterday were Diddy, Rihanna, Will.I.Am, Maroon 5's Adam Levine and "High School Musical" star Zac Efron. Longtime Laker fans Jack Nicholson, Andy Garcia, Penny Marshall and Denzel Washington were also in attendance.

Game 3 is set for Tuesday night in Orlando: Get ready paparazzi shots of high-profile Magic fans like Tiger Woods and ... er, that's really it. Maybe Rick Ross and Flo Rida can make the drive up from Miami to spice things up?

Last week, I tagged along with MTV News for the Mixtape Daily shoot with Nicki Minaj at Baisley Pond Park in Queens, New York (I live just a few minutes away). A lot of people in Queens have much respect for Nicki as a writer, singer and artist whose lyrical content is fun and playful — but don't forget, she has a flow so crazy she can hurt your feelings. She's been highly recognized after working with Gucci Mane, Lil Wayne and the Young Money Crew.

Waiting for her to arrive at the park, I didn't know what to expect or even make of the day ahead of me. The only thing that came to mind was "Nicki Minaj is a bad bi---!" (in the best way possible!) She stepped out of the white SUV in a white tank top, glittery pink leggings, and strapped heels, complemented by gold earrings, big chains and bracelets. After going through the details of how the interview would get started, she had a few creative ideas of her own. She wanted to incorporate bikes into the shoot, and for her to take creative direction showed me that she has no problem voicing how she wanted her segment to look.

After meeting up with Atlanta's DJ Holiday, the interview got started with Nicki sitting on a blue motorcycle while her girls stood next to her and the guys stood behind her wearing "I Wanna Minaj" T-shirts. A yellow Ferrari rolled up next to us, followed by a group of dirt bikes doing wheelies and other stunts around the park.

Many fans that walked through the park were shocked to see her there and asked for pictures. She was appreciative — but also concerned about the group of girls that weren't in school. She said, "Shouldn't you guys be in school right now? What are you doing out here? Go back to school and come back later!" Everyone at the park heard some of the tracks from her mixtape, Beam Me Up Scotty.

I got to see the many sides of Minaj, whether it was Nicki the Ninja or Nicki the Boss. As she explained to Mixtape Daily, "A bad bi--- is an exclusive, smart girlie-girl who holds her own" — and that's something she definitely is!

Lil Wayne arrived at 9:15 a.m. with no entourage, accompanied only by his usual bodyguard and his attorney, Stacey Richman. With our cameras rolling, Wayne, dressed casually in dark jeans, black-framed glasses, black sweater, black sneakers and a grey jacket, made his way from his blacked-out Escalade across the street and up the steps of the courthouse. The streets were bustling with people heading to work, and not one single person noticed that the famous rapper was amongst them. Even a group of kids late to school walked right past Wayne without noticing — and by the time they saw the cameras and turned around, it was too late. Lil Wayne had enetered the building.

It was a busy day at the courthouse, with a steady flow of people going in and out of the building. There was a class of young kids from a local school who were spending the day taking a tour — even they didn't notice Wayne as he walked past them and ducked into the courtroom. Which was probably a good thing: seeing Lil Wayne on a class trip to the courthouse might have been a bit much for them!

Inside, Wayne sat silently as his attorney spoke with the judge. Outside, Cash Money Records heads Bryan "Baby" Williams and Ronald "Slim" Williams arrived 10 minutes late. But by the time Baby had gone through the metal detectors, the proceeding had adjourned and Wayne and company walked out of the courthouse. There was just a nod of recognition from Weezy and a few words with his attorney, and he crossed the street and jumped into his Escalade. No one except us knew they were near one of the biggest names in hip-hop as Wayne drove off.

Lil Wayne is taking over, one city at a time. After his I Am Music Tour kicked off in Providence, Rhode Island, on Tuesday, he stopped in Newark, New Jersey, last night with his Young Money Crew, T-Pain, Gym Class Heroes and Keri Hilson. It was a can't-miss concert and the only one in proximity for the New York/ New Jersey area.

I found myself screaming with the crowd as smoke emerged from the stage before Weezy's entrance. There he was — Mr. Carter himself! It didn't take long until T-Pain joined him to perform their hits and gave previews of upcoming "T-Wayne" collaboration.

Taking off layers of clothing one by one, Wayne performed "Turnin' Me On" with Keri Hilson and was down to nothing but pants and his six-pack and tattoos for "Fireman." After he played several tracks from his mixtapes, he introduced his Young Money Crew. Mack Maine, Lil Twist and Lil Chuckee spit some rhymes, while Jae Millz, Tyga, Gudda Gudda and T-Streets joined them onstage. Together with Wayne and up-and-coming rapper Drake, they performed "Every Girl in the World," the first single from the Young Money album. Drake (also known as actor Aubrey Graham, who plays Jimmy on "Degrassi: The Next Generation") stayed onstage for Wayne's "Mrs. Officer," followed by the rock hit "Prom Queen."

I was surprised when I turned to my left and saw Gym Class Heroes and the Young Money entourage bopping their heads in the VIP section as if they'd never seen Lil Wayne perform. As the show was coming to a close, Wayne performed "A Milli" and said goodnight, only to come back in a red boxing robe and leave us with the chorus of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" — because according to Lil Wayne, "There is no me without you."

I missed Hilson's opening act but made it to the Prudential Center to see the Gym Class Heroes take the stage and warm up the crowd with tracks like "Cupid's Chokehold" and "Guilty as Charged." Frontman Travis McCoy made references to his ex-girlfriend kissing girls (Katy Perry?) and dedicated songs to the women in the audience, closing the set by admitting he can't keep his hands out of the "Cookie Jar."

T-Pain drove to center stage in his green golf cart, showing off his hydraulics and spinners. He performed all his hits and collaborations, and I was disappointed that none of his famous co-stars joined him onstage. But T-Pain's talent and versatility was more than enough, as he played the keyboard, jammed on the drums and, of course, danced the whole time. We also saw a side of T-Pain you've never seen before; he mellowed down and sang "Keep Going" from his Thr33 Ringz album without the Auto-Tune.

Lil Wayne showed Louisville a lot of love when we talked to him about the NCAA Tournament last week. The long-haired lyricist picked Rick Pitino's team to make it to the Final Four.

His bracketology was so on point that he made his pick before Selection Sunday and before the Cardinals won the Big East Tournament over Syracuse this past weekend. He told us to watch out for the sleepers but then said, "It's gonna be Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Louisville and Carolina. Teams like that [make it to the end]."

Turns out, all four teams were picked as #1 seeds. Take that, office-pool hacks!

It also turns out Weezy is pretty popular with the Louisville players. On the University of Louisville's athletic site, hoopsters like junior Jerry Smith list Lil Wayne as their favorite rapper. Smith also gave a nod to the Game and Young Jeezy. Sophomore guard Preston Knowles also lists Lil Wayne, along with T.I., Chamillionaire and Lil Boosie.

Looks like college hoops and hip-hop are hooking up this year.

The NCAA Tournament begins Thursday, and you can check back throughout the week for more of your favorite stars' memories of games past and picks for the 2009 tourney.

Lil Wayne is a sports aficionado, for sure — from his ESPN tattoo to his gig as an ESPN the Magazine blogger and his recent appearance on the network's "Around the Horn."

But still, it's impressive when someone who excels in one thing is particularly knowledgeable in a totally different field. Weezy is always on the road. Dude has a tour bus that might make John Madden jealous. And it's not just that he always records or is grinding. He does it at such a high level that it's incredible he has the capacity to even be competent at something else. Some rappers don't even listen to the radio or other hip-hop because they're in the studio so much.

Yet Wayne, responding to an offhand question about his thoughts on college hoops and Virginia Commonwealth's improbable run, took the question seriously. He basically got out of rock-star mode for a sec and lucidly gave his analysis. He was all over the Big East Tournament. I'm sure after we talked, he peeped his BlackBerry, and someone had to tell him about the Syracuse and UConn six-overtime game. We got some more NCAA Tournament stuff from Wayne, so stay tuned for his Final Four picks and who he thinks is gonna eventually prevail in Detroit this year.

There's no blood in Weezy's "Prom Queen" (the song is from his forthcoming rock album, Rebirth, now due in May), but the coolest shot in the video had to be how he remained calm and cool, crooning away, while the other promgoers in tuxes and gowns went crazy banging their heads like rock and rollers around him. And then he put Korn in the video too during a performance sequence. Wayne, you're just showing off now.

But really, even the die-hard, hip-hop loving Wayne addicts who will argue to the grave that he is the best rapper alive can't deny the appeal of Weezy's latest clip. My only beef with the video is that it probably spells the demise of any further videos from Tha Carter III. I don't know about you, but I was definitely looking forward to seeing visuals to "Phone Home" or "You Ain't Got Nuthin." I gave up eons ago on that "Mr. Carter" video!

The funniest sequence in the "Prom Queen" video is Wayne trying his best to look a little dorky and awkward trying to woo a girl. Just because you throw on some spectacles doesn't mean you don't look like Lil Wayne with glasses on — this isn't Christopher Reeves in "Superman"!

Lil Wayne's "Be Like Lil Wayne" app lets you customize your iPhone photos with grillz and other bling, then share with friends. On Fall Out Boy's app, you can follow them on tour via GPS. Pink wants you to challenge friends through multiplayer racing on "Fast and Furious: Pink Slip." And the Pussycat dolls want you to play their games on the go.

No longer a space reserved for the tech elite, artists are seeing the potential of iPhone apps and using them to develop an army of young fans who are increasingly mobile.

Nine Inch Nails, Snow Patrol, Justice, Moby and the Fray are just a few other artists who have jumped on the iPhone bandwagon, eager to maintain a connection with their tech-savvy audience. Despite the hefty price tags of iPhones and the iPod Touch (considering our bummer economy), more teens are rocking these slick mobile devices than ever before. Aware of this trend, artists are collaborating with iPhone developers to create branded apps with all the benefits of a MySpace page — without the restrictions of logging on to a computer.

With new apps in the works for Britney, Beyoncé and Akon, fans have the opportunity to connect with their favorite artists — and other fans — in a brand-new way, no matter where they are.

(Who else is releasing an iPhone app? Find out, after the jump!)

Some existing apps, such as FOB's, will continue to be updated with new features. Most of these apps will be bundled with album releases and tours, giving fans up-to-the-minute details and exclusive content directly to their phone.

For now, many apps share standard features such as blog feeds, track streaming and the ability to connect with other fans through GPS, but artists like T-Pain (who, in the next few months, is releasing an Auto-Tune app that will allow anyone to replicate his signature style through their iPhone) are standing out from the pack by providing fans with tools to create their own content.

Industry experts are speculating that iPhone apps will soon be harsh competition for MySpace, but ultimately it all means an increasingly interactive experience for fans.

We'll be giving you some exclusive looks into the latest iPhone apps before their release, so keep coming back for more updates! Which one of your favorite artists do you wish would release an iPhone app? What would you want it to do? Tell us in the comments!

There's not a day that goes by here at MTV News when we don't discuss the important things: Did you see "Gossip Girl" last night? Who is Miley Cyrus' real BFF? How can we stop Will.I.Am? (We've learned that you can't — you can only hope to contain him.)

One topic that is always up for discussion in the Newsroom is Lil Wayne's upcoming rock album, Rebirth. Some of us can't understand why someone at the pinnacle of hip-hop would decide to make a rock album. Others are convinced it's the greatest thing ever.

With the Newsroom so divided, we had to turn to an outside source to try to make sense of things. So, last night we had Sway interview T-Pain on the Grammy red carpet. I know what you're thinking: T-Pain? Well, yes. He wears a top hat just like Abraham Lincoln.

All jokes aside, T-Pain actually has a very good point: "Rock on, player! It's time for a change. Let's all go. Let's all switch up. Let's show people we can talk about something other than how much money we got."

There's a lot going on in the world that doesn't necessarily get addressed in our Newsroom blog. Here's a look at some top stories making headlines today.

Lil Wayne has eight Grammy nominations. So how many of them can the Cash Money star actually take home on February 8?

"Donnie Darko" director Richard Kelly lists his 10 favorite movie badasses, including some surprising picks: Remy from "Ratatouille"? Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski"? Read more here!

Selena Gomez says she doesn't want to be a Disney star forever.

Coming soon: We embarrass "Slumdog Millionaire" stars Dev Patel and Freida Pinto. Stay tuned!

Do the recently released patches for "Gears of War 2" work? Multiplayer asks an expert to weigh in.