By Jayson Rodriguez
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?
By Jenna Talavera
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. Read more...
NEW YORK — Outside the courthouse this morning there were no screaming fans, no camera crews (aside from our own) and not a single paparazzo in sight — which was surprising, considering that the biggest name in hip-hop, Lil Wayne, was in court, appearing before a judge facing charges of gun possession.
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.
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By Jenna Talavera
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." Read more...
By Jayson Rodriguez
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. Read more...
By Jayson Rodriguez
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.
When I say the new Lil Wayne video — which was shown on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" last night and can be found on the Web — reminds me a bit of "Carrie," the kids reading this will probably be like, "This has nothing to do with Carrie Bradshaw from 'Sex and the City'!" I don't mean that Carrie, I'm talking about demented outcast Sissy Spacek played in the film "Carrie." Let's just say her supernatural powers gave John Travolta and the rest of her graduating class an affair they wouldn't live to see surpassed.
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.
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By Daniela Capistrano
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!)
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By Steven Roberts
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. Read more...
By Adrienne Day
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.
