When Beyoncé took the stage at the O2 Arena on Monday (November 16), she not only brought Kanye West and Jay-Z on stage with her, but also busted out a big concert trope that seems to have gone by the wayside but may be making a comeback. In the middle of "Halo," she ran directly at the crowd and hurled herself onto the outstretched hands of the mass of fans in a stage dive.

Stage diving used to be a common occurrence during the alt-rock era, which saw frontmen like Eddie Vedder and Kurt Cobain channeled the spirit of Iggy Pop and constantly tossed themselves at the swirling crowds at their shows. But at some point around the turn of the century, stage diving got a bad name. It's possible that Fred Durst sunk the whole concept, as he famously used a piece of the security fence to surf across the hands of thousands of revelers at Woodstock '99 while Limp Bizkit played and women were sexually assaulted. But there's no real event that ended the practice — like the dinosaurs, stage diving died slowly and inexplicably.

But clearly it isn't completely extinct. In addition to Beyoncé's head-first dive, there were plenty of human missiles tossed off the stage at the 2009 mtvU Woodie Awards, which were taped this past Wednesday night (November 18). After accepting an award on behalf of Green Day, rapper Asher Roth leaped into the crowd for a brief surf, and the beginning of the show saw Kim Schifino (of Matt and Kim) crawl across the outstretched arms of the people closest to the stage and stand up on top of them in a makeshift pyramid.

So if one of the biggest stars in the world, one of the slickest rappers in the hip-hop game and one of the coolest indie bands about to pop are all hopping off stages and into crowds, it's clearly an equal-opportunity deal. Who would you like to see stage diving? Should Taylor Swift let herself be carried away by fans? Should the boys from Tokio Hotel risk dismemberment in crowd surfing? Make your pleas in the comments!

The MTV Video Music Awards are just a few short days away, and though there is all sorts of buzz surrounding the performances, the parties and the New York-centric stunts that will be happening all this week into Sunday's broadcast, it's important to remember that the reason the biggest stars in music will gather in Radio City Music Hall is to see who wins the coveted Moonman in each of the 15 categories. Today, we conclude our look at each of the top categories with a look at the Best New Artist award. The nominees are 3OH!3's "Don't Trust Me," Asher Roth's "I Love College," Drake's "Best I Ever Had," Kid Cudi's "Day n' Night" and Lady Gaga's "Poker Face." In this category, the winner is entirely determined by fan voting, and you can continue to vote for your favorite until the moment the presenter walks onstage to read the names.

Each of the Best New Artist nominees has something working in their favor. Lady Gaga is the biggest commercial success by far, and her unusual fashion sense and penchant for theatrics has made her an instantly-recognizable icon. But that doesn't mean she's necessarily running away with it. After all, last year's Best New Artist, Tokio Hotel, beat out a handful of sales juggernauts like Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift. Asher Roth's "I Love College" was huge among actual college students, who are more likely to rally around their computers and cast votes. (Roth seems pretty nonchalant about the awards, though.) Drake and Kid Cudi both have incredible buzz surrounding them and have been immediately embraced by the hip-hop community. (Need proof? They're both on The Blueprint 3.) And 3OH!3 have gone out of their way to campaign for votes, with a push so intense that they managed to make 3OH!3 a trending topic on Twitter.

Who will walk away with Best New Artist? It seems like 3OH!3 want it the most, though it may be impossible to defeat Lady Gaga (who could easily take a series of Moonmen in a landslide tonight). It could be a big coup for whoever the winner is, as many Best New Artists (Alicia Keys, 50 Cent, Maroon 5, the Killers, Eminem and Nirvana among them) have gone on to become superstars and VMA regulars.

The MTV Video Music Awards are just a few short days away, and though there is all sorts of buzz surrounding the performances, the parties and the New York-centric stunts that will be happening all this week into Sunday's broadcast, it's important to remember that the reason the biggest stars in music will gather in Radio City Music Hall is to see who wins the coveted Moonman in each of the 15 categories. We'll be taking a look at each of the top categories, continuing today with the Best Hip-Hop Video award. The nominees are Asher Roth's "I Love College," Eminem's "We Made You," Flo Rida's "Right Round," Jay-Z's "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" and Kanye West's "Love Lockdown."

The history of the Best Hip-Hop Video category is a little unusual, as it tends to err on the side of more far-reaching, esoteric tracks rather than club bangers or Jeep tracks. Past winners include Lil Wayne ("Lollipop," 2008), Missy Elliott ("Work It," 2003; "Lose Control," 2005) and Outkast ("Ms. Jackson," 2001). This year's nominees once again show the breadth of material addressed in this category. It features two relative newcomers and a trio of veterans in what could be the most interesting race on Sunday night.

Asher Roth (and his mustache) will be competing for his first ever Moonman this year. While he's still relatively new on the scene, Flo Rida already has two nominations under his belt (he was nominated for Best Hip-Hop Video and Best Male Video last year for "Low," losing to Lil Wayne and Chris Brown).

Sadly, Roth and Flo are working uphill against the three titans also in this category. Over his career, Kanye West has become a VMA staple, closing last year's show with a stirring rendition of the song whose video is nominated at this year's show and tallying 11 total nominations since he first broke out a few years ago. West has two wins: He picked up Best Male Video for "Jesus Walks" in 2005 and his "Good Life" clip won Best Special Effects at last year's show.

Since he was first nominated for a Moonman in 1999, Jay-Z has picked up 16 nominations with an astonishing nine wins. His big year was in 2004, when "99 Problems" won four awards, and he has taken home the Best Hip-Hop Video award twice in the past. You can probably count him as a frontrunner for the 2010 awards as well, as "Run This Town" is a pretty amazing clip.

Finally, there's Eminem, who in the past decade has become a cornerstone icon at the VMAs. He's delivered some of the most memorable performances in the show's history (remember the army of Mathers' in 2000?) and has been the recipient of nine total Moonmen in his career (including two nods for Best Hip-Hop).

The general debate appears to be between Eminem and Kanye West, but at the end of the day it seems like this award is Jay-Z's to lose.

Though the Chris Brown fiasco has repeatedly put Rihanna's name in the news as a victim, she hasn't let it stop her from leading her life out in public. She has been spending most of her time in New York (going out with friends, partying at the Rocawear anniversary event, taking sojourns to the Hamptons) with occasional hops to Las Vegas (where she hung out with Kings of Leon and went to their show at the Hard Rock Casino) and Anaheim (to roll backstage with Soulja Boy and Miami Mike). And in between all that, she also found the time to appear in the excellent video for "Run This Town" with Jay-Z and Kanye West. She's busy and clearly enjoying herself, so while Brown works on his community service, Rihanna is clearly moving on.

She isn't the only one enjoying the Manhattan night life. While ex-wife Britney Spears is in town for a three-night stint at Madison Square Garden, Kevin Federline has also been seen around the city. Television stars were out and about too, as "Gossip Girl" star Blake Lively dropped in on a cocktail party hosted by InStyle, while America Ferrera was caught filming scenes for the upcoming season of "Ugly Betty." Click here to check out all these photos, as well as the entire "Spotted" archive featuring candid shots of Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Madonna, Justin Timberlake and Taylor Swift.

Today marked the premiere of Asher Roth's video for "She Don't Wanna Man," the latest clip from his smashing debut album Asleep in the Bread Aisle. The song and video features a guest spot from Keri Hilson, who is rapidly becoming one of the best guest stars in music. While Rihanna may have grabbed the most recent headlines with her hook in Jay's "Run This Town," Hilson has quietly built her resumé. In "She Don't Wanna Man," Hilson plays the titular girl who is only in the club to dance. Her silky smooth delivery on the hook combined with her offbeat sexiness makes for an ideal guest spot. Even though she's only in charge of the chorus, she totally takes over the song, which is no easy feat in the presence of an MC as charismatic as Roth.

But the Roth video is only the latest in her series of scene-stealing performances. Check out the video for Kardinall Offishall's "Numba 1 (Tide Is High)," in which Hilson coos the hook (a sample of "The Tide Is High," a reggae song made popular by Blondie) and gyrates in her off-beat manner. Once again, she totally jacks the clip from Kardinal, a lively performer in his own right.

But the best Hilson drop-in is in the video for Fabolous' "Everything, Everyday, Everywhere." Again, Keri delivers the hook with a rugged sweetness and does little more than give the camera a thumbs-up, but she is so endlessly compelling that she steals the entire four minutes. She's got an easy sexiness, but there's also a sense of danger to her. Plus, she's got great hair. Of course, Hilson's own songs are phenomenal (especially "Knock You Down"), but the best way to grab some attention and give your track (and video) some attention is to sign Hilson up. Take note, MCs.

Kid Cudi has been working on his album for quite some time, and it's had plenty of release dates and production delays. But it looks like his premiere solo LP could actually be on its way, as Kanye West unleashed Cudi's album art on his blog yesterday.

The album, which is called Man on the Moon: The End of Day, features production by West and Just Blaze and guest spots from the likes of Common, Snoop Dogg, Clipse and MGMT. Cudi has kept himself busy touring with Asher Roth on the Hangover Tour and getting nominated for a Video Music Award for his excellent cartoon-assisted clip "Day N' Nite."

With Jay-Z going a little artier for the cover of his upcoming album The Blueprint 3 and Cudi and Kanye clearly possessing an interest in interesting visuals, could we be entering the golden age of hip-hop album art? The old model for covers for rap records relied on menacing photos of the artist. But in the past year, more and more rappers are expanding their visual horizons: Kanye's 808s & Heartbreak, Lupe Fiasco's The Cool, T.I.'s Paper Trail and the Roots' Rising Down all dipped their toes in interesting artistic ideas. But Cudi has definitely thrown the gauntlet down for any other MC looking to keep his album cover interesting.

The 2009 Video Music Awards nominations are out, and though much of the attention is on Best Video, one of the most intriguing categories is the race for Best New Artist. It pits Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" against 3OH!3 ("Don't Trust Me") and three top-shelf MCs: Drake ("Best I Ever Had"), Kid Cudi ("Day 'N' Nite") and Asher Roth ("I Love College").

The nominations are lead by two artists who appeared in a rather prescient feature MTV News' Stephen Roberts produced at the beginning of the year, announcing the five "MCs to Watch in 2009." ">Kid Cudi was on that list, and his nomination for his signature hit "Day 'N' Nite" — one of the best hip-hop jams of the year so far— proves that Roberts' prediction was deadly accurate.

In addition to producing the super-cool video for "Day 'N' Night," Cudi has spent the year prepping his debut album and touring with Asher Roth, another Best New Artist nominee and MC to watch. Read more...

It was another crazy week here in the Newsroom, what with all the hanging with Asher Roth and playing softball with the Jonas Brothers, so just in case some things slipped through the cracks, here's the rundown of what you might have missed. It's this week's Deep Cuts.

» It's easy to forget that Lil Wayne has actually been in the game for over a decade, and this gallery charting his evolution is a great reminder that he used to be a fresh-faced kid before he was a worldwide superstar.

» Plenty of debates this week, like which songs from the first half of the year were our favorites and what former Panic! at the Disco guitarist Ryan Ross should name his new band.

» The march to this year's MTV Video Music Awards is underway. On September 13, host Russell Brand will try to top his performance from last year.

» You know what else we learned this week? That Michael Jackson was a huge fan of "30 Rock" (at least according to Tracy Morgan).

» Finally, just remember that if Newsroom has taught you nothing else this week, it's that a name change doesn't necessarily mean disaster.

Backstage at the Great Hangover Tour here in New York City was like two different worlds brought together care of Asher Roth and Kid Cudi.

My MTVNews producer Steven and I arrived early to grab the only interview with the two young MCs side-by-side an hour before they performed in front of a sold-out crowd at the Nokia Theatre in Times Square. As we walked backstage, it was a lot more mellow that what you might expect from a tour with the title the Great Hangover — a name conjured up by one Mr. Kanye West.

As I walked into his dressing room, Cudi was holding court surrounded by a crew of people. I didn't hear what he was saying but he had everyone's attention. Then mid-sentence he saw us and immediately came over to make us feel welcome. I think his opening words were actually "Yo Tim, you want a shot?" Read more...

When Asher Roth and Kid Cudi first told me that they were going on the road together, I knew that was a night I wasn't going to miss.

Last night, the Great Hangover Tour came to town and the two gifted MCs took to the stage in front of a sold out Nokia Theatre and handled business like OG rappers well beyond their years.

Both Asher and Cudi have very distinct personalities, so I was curious to see how this would translate to the stage. It works! It was Asher's turn to hit the stage first (the pair rotate each time). Don't let the messy haircut fool you: With his laid back swagger and funny personality both on-stage and off, its easy sometimes to forget just how talented of an MC Asher Roth actually is. Funkmaster Flex told me backstage that out of every MC in the game who has stopped by his radio show and dropped a freestyle, Roth is the one who freestyled the longest and didn't slip up once.

The kid's got hits and the crowd knew them all. From the crowd-pleasing "Be By Myself" to one of my personal favourites "Lark On My Go Kart," Asher put as much energy into each and every song as I had seen him do many months ago when playing in front of family and friends in his hometown of Westchester. I don't know if its a God-given gift or something he strives hard to achieve, but he hits every word with perfect flow and delivery even in his hardest verses. Even my friends who came with me — DJ Reach and DJ Jus Ske, both hip-hop aficionados — gave major props when he delivered the complex verse in "Lark On My Go-Kart." After getting pitch-perfect deliveries of "Blunt Cruise," "La Di Da," "She Don't Want A Man" (the next single, and Keri Hilson if you're reading this, you have got to do the video) and of course the anthem "I Love College" (which I still catch myself singing the hook each and every time, mo matter how often I hear it), people could have gone home satisfied that they got more than their money's worth after just his performance.

But just when you thought it was safe, the artistic Cudi took centre stage. Read more...