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How Will Justin Bieber's Haircut Affect His Career?

Posted 2/23/11 4:30 pm EST by in Music


On Tuesday (February 22), the Internet was abuzz with a fascinating development in the pop music world. Justin Bieber, perhaps the most famous 16-year-old on the planet, decided to trim his signature swooping hair style in favor of something a little shorter and sharper. Under normal circumstances, getting a haircut shouldn't play into how the world receives his music, but Bieber had a lot riding on that signature mane. (Luckily, he has plenty of skill to fall back on.)

The history of pop culture is littered with stars who have attempted dramatic hair transitions. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't, which is why MTV News has crafted this handy visual guide to the celebrities who have scored with their new hair and those who have stumbled.


As you can see, there is no real rhyme or reason to who survives changes in hair style and who doesn't. On the left side, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl cut off his long locks right around the time his band was becoming one of the biggest in the world, but Metallica's reign of world domination began to slip right around the time frontman James Hetfield (and the rest of the band) got rid of his metal hair. Eminem changed his hair color as a nod to his more mature outlook, while Busta Rhymes hasn't been nearly as big since he shed his dreadlocks. Actress Keri Russell famously shed her long curls for a game-changing episode of the teen drama "Felicity" (the show was never the same), while Justin Timberlake left his curls behind with his *NSYNC days right around the time he became a huge cross-cultural superstar.

Bieber's new style isn't as dramatic as Britney Spears' shaved head or Halle Berry's re-jiggered look, so it's likely that he'll end up on the left side of the image. Plus, the universe seems to love the new shorter look, so it seems like Bieber is on the right track, follicle-wise.

What do you think of Justin Bieber's new haircut? Let us know in the comments!

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Justin Bieber Is The Latest In The List Of Ozzy Osbourne's Unlikely Collaborators

Posted 1/27/11 4:00 pm EST by in Music


Over the course of his still young career, Justin Bieber has managed to appeal to people across a number of different genre lines. His ubiquity in the pop world is undeniable, and he is continuously picking up credibility in the R&B and hip-hop worlds as well (thanks to a number of key collaborations and endorsements). However, it's unlikely that Bieber will appeal to the metal community any time soon, though that could certainly change when the Super Bowl rolls around. Bieber will appear alongside Ozzy Osbourne in an advertisement for Best Buy that will air during the big game on Sunday night, February 6. The content of the ad is being kept under wraps, but it marks the first time that Bieber will be teaming up with Osbourne and will certainly make for unlikely bedfellows for both of them.

However, despite his well-earned reputation as a badass, Ozzy has been collaborating with unlikely partners throughout his career. He has teamed with some expected partners (like Mótórhead, and Type O Negative), but there are just as many oddball, left-field pairings like these.

Busta Rhymes
When Busta was putting together his 1998 album E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event): The Final World Front, he wanted to use the iconic riff from Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" for the album-closing track "This Means War!!" But rather than just use the sample, he went ahead and brought Osbourne in to lay down a fresh vocal line for the chorus. Strangely, it was one of a string of hip-hop friendly collaborations for Osbourne.

Crystal Method, DMX and Ol' Dirty Bastard
To give you an idea of how huge "South Park" was when it first started, a record label paid a million dollars just for the opportunity to be the distributor of the show's soundtrack (which manifested as Chef Aid: The South Park Album, released in 1998). What did that money buy? Crazy-ass guest stars and unlikely team-ups. For instance, the first song on the album (after the theme song to the TV show) was "Nowhere to Run," a noisy, unprecedented collaboration between the Crystal Method (who laid down the music) and vocalists DMX, Ol' Dirty Bastard and Osbourne. It represented not only Osbourne's hip-hop crossover but also his one dalliance with the then-huge electronica movement.

Was (Not Was), Madonna and Kim Basinger
Outside-the-box pop group Was (Not Was) drafted Ozzy into singing lead vocals on their 1982 track "Shake Your Head (Let's Go to Bed)," which was a strange enough combination. But it only gets stranger when you add Madonna to the mix (she provided backing vocals), and gets surreal when you consider Madonna wanted her vocals taken out of the remastered version for the Was (Not Was) hits package and actress Kim Basinger filled in for her.

Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan's "For Heaven's Sake" (from their 1997 double album Wu-Tang Forever) already had a doomsday vibe to it thanks to the haunting production by the RZA. But Osbourne and Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi added an extra bit of end-of-the-world dread when they recorded a new version of the track for the rap-meets-metal compilation Loud Rocks in 2000. Most of Loud Rocks doesn't work, but the new version of "For Heaven's Sake" is pretty jaw-dropping.

Dweezil Zappa
What's the strangest thing about this collaboration, which was a cover of the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive"? The fact that it's a cover of a Bee Gees song? The fact that it came from a whole album's worth of metal covers of Bee Gees tunes? The fact that Frank Zappa named one of his sons Dweezil? Or the fact that it actually sounds kind of good?

Miss Piggy
For the Muppets-meet-rockers compilation album Kermit Unpigged, Osbourne teamed up with everybody's favorite high-maintenance porcine star and cranked out a version of Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild." It's not the best cover in the world, though it is Ozzy's greatest experience with felt.

What's your favorite unusual Ozzy Osbourne collaboration? Let us know in the comments!

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Nicki Minaj Fans Take Note: Rah Digga Returns With 'This Ain't No Lil' Kid Rap' Video

Posted 7/23/10 5:00 pm EST by in Music


As Nicki Minaj climbs up the charts with her hit "Your Love," an almost-forgotten female MC is primed to make her comeback. Rah Digga, formerly the feminine voice of Busta Rhymes' Flipmode Squad (and secretly the most talented MC in the bunch), is back with a new album called Classic in September. It's Digga's first solo joint in a decade (she took time off from the rap game to raise her daughter and go back to school to learn film editing), and she just dropped the video for the album's first single, "This Ain't No Lil' Kid Rap." And, of course, it absolutely rules.

Rah Digga - This Ain't No Lil' Kid Rap from Raw Koncept on Vimeo.

Digga began her career as an MC as a member of the New Jersey-based collective the Outsidaz. Their affiliation with the also-Jersey-based Refugee camp earned them a guest spot on the Fugees' "Cowboys" (from the Grammy-winning classic album The Score). Digga used to hang out at the legendary Lyricist Lounge, which lead to a meeting with Busta Rhymes and a spot in Rhymes' crew, the Flipmode Squad. Not only did Rah get a featured spot on a bunch of Rhymes tracks, but she also was the standout star of the posse's only album The Imperial, which hit stores in 1998.

Digga dropped her own solo album Dirty Harriet two years later. Her approach on Dirty Harriet was incredible, as the album was polished enough for commercial rap radio but raw enough to appeal to hardcore lyrics-mongers. Digga has always been an MC's MC, obsessed with the power of the poetry and the impact of the flow. It's a tradition she continues on her latest joint. "Type of pen game most rappers be afraid of/ Some even call me the boom-bap savior/ New pledges beware/ I might have to haze you," she spits on "This Ain't No Lil' Kid Rap."

After both her second solo album and the second Flipmode album got caught up in label nonsense, Digga ducked out of the rap world. (If you search hard enough, you can find her second solo album Everything Is a Story in various bootleg forms online.) But even after 10 years, she hasn't lost a step, and now that she's back, it has become abundantly clear what the game has been missing.

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Is Lil Wayne's Young Money Album The Best Hip-Hop Posse Record Of All Time?

Posted 2/23/10 11:35 am EST by in Music


With all the buzz surrounding the release of Rebirth, the mad quest to record songs before going to prison and his Twitter and Ustream habits, the biggest music-related Lil Wayne news has gotten swept under the rug a bit. That would be the release of We Are Young Money, the posse album that dropped just before the end of 2009 that secretly contains some of the best Weezy-blessed work of the past 12 months.

The album, which features contributions from Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Mack Maine, Gudda Gudda, Tyga, Lil Twist and Jae Millz. The two singles ("Every Girl," which peaked at 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, and "BedRock") were both heaters that had some great work from everybody (but especially Nicki Minaj, who is becoming the crew's most potent weapon). There's also some top-shelf production care of Cool & Dre, Kane Beatz and Tha Bizness, making it a wall-to-wall success.

In fact, the greatness of We Are Young Money begs the question: Is it the best posse album of all time?

It has happened dozens of times before: An MC blows up and brings along his (usually far less talented) crew along for a group album (or an excuse to spend money in the studio). For every We Are Young Money, there are a dozen records from the likes of the St. Lunatics (that was Nelly's crew, which included titans like Murphy Lee and City Spud). But there are a handful of records that are on par with (and occasionally above) the work of the group's alpha dog. Check out our picks below and vote in the poll.

Flipmode Squad, The Imperial
Busta Rhymes' recording career has been pretty spotty (outside of the true classic When Disaster Strikes), but the one album he cut with his crew is a model of quality and consistency. Alongside Busta, Squad members Rampage, Lord Have Mercy, Rah Digga, Spliff Star and Baby Sham spun together rugged rhymes and catchy choruses for an incredible brew (especially on the singles "Everybody on the Line Outside" and "Cha Cha Cha"). Some of the Flipmode members even went on to put out excellent solo work (like Rah Digga's Dirty Harriet).

G-Unit, Beg For Mercy
Think what you want about 50 Cent, but the first album he put together with his G-Unit crew is an intense, sometimes brutal but always impressive piece of gangsta pop. Read More...

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Snoop Dogg Teams Up With Martha Stewart To Make Some Special Brownies

Posted 12/18/09 1:16 pm EST by in Music, Television


When Snoop Dogg first scowled at the camera in Dr. Dre's "Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang" video way back in 1992, could anybody have imagined how well the rapper would be able to mainstream himself 17 years later? Few artists are versatile enough to drop a killer album like Malice in Wonderland, chat with Stephen Colbert and receive praise for his pee-wee football coaching skills all in the same week, but Snoop has managed to pull it off.

His latest crossover feat may be his best — and most hilarious. Snoop is on today's episode of "The Martha Stewart Show," which will feature the rapper baking brownies with the erstwhile daytime host. During the segment, Snoop jokes about knowing his way around a kitchen because he worked at McDonald's, gets confused by the color of vanilla and, in the best moment perhaps ever captured on television, encourages Stewart to drop a special "green" ingredient into the brownie mix.

This isn't Stewart's first encounter with Snoop, as he has been on the show before to teach the host about street slang (he refers to her paring knife as "a shank"). This is also the latest in a line of otherworldly encounters with rap stars, a phenomenon that began at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, where she presented the prize for Best Dance Video (the Spice Girls won) with the help of Busta Rhymes. She also recently hobnobbed with hip-hop's elite at Diddy's birthday party (which had a guest list that also featured Jay-Z, Young Jeezy and Rick Ross). Now that we think about it, is it stranger that Snoop is on television baking brownies or that Stewart is down with the hip-hop elite? These are strange times indeed.

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George Steinbrenner's Billion Dollar Yankees Headed To The World Series: Wake-Up Video

Posted 10/26/09 9:00 am EST by in Wake-Up Video


Last night, the New York Yankees shook off a weight that has been around their collective neck since 2004. In defeating the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim by a score of 5-2, the Yanks won their first American League pennant since 2003 and overcoming their growing reputation as choke artists since they blew a three game lead against the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 playoffs. For the first time in years, the World Series (which kicks off at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on Wednesday) will actually pit the two best teams in either league against each other for total dominance of baseball. Their opponent, the Philadelphia Phillies, match up pretty well, sporting a similarly dangerous lineup and a deep pitching squad. Philadelphia might have a bit of a leg up on the Bronx Bombers, as by the time the first pitch of the World Series is thrown on Wednesday night, the Phils will have had over a week off. In any event, it should be a memorable tilt between two of baseball's most storied franchises.

At the end of every Yankees victory, the song pumped into Yankee Stadium is "New York, New York" (sung by Frank Sinatra), a tradition that dates back decades. But since the brand-new Yankee Stadium is a 21st century marvel that may have cost over $1 billion, it needs a new celebration song for the future — a badass track from a modern New York artist who knows how to represent for sports. So here's the Newsroom's vote for a new tradition: Every time the Yanks score a victory, the fans should exit to Busta Rhymes' "New York Sh--."

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Happy Birthday, T-Pain

Posted 9/30/09 2:02 pm EST by in Music


It sometimes seems like singer, producer and Auto-Tune aficionado T-Pain has been around a lot longer than he actually has. But his first music only came out back in 2005, and the guy is only 26 years old. He'll almost certainly be spending his birthday — which is today — in style, as it seems like every time we see him he's either hanging out in a strip club, buying ladies dranks or rolling up to awards shows on elephants. But what do you get a guy who has everything, including a "big ass chain," his own Auto-Tune-centric iPhone app and a fine collection of top hats?

Regardless, Pain hasn't slowed his output, as he's constantly appearing in videos, guesting on songs and working on his own album Revolver, which is expected late this year or early next. But if there's any one collaborator who should buy Pain a cupcake on his birthday today, it's Busta Rhymes. Pain guested on Busta's track "Hustler's Anthem '09," and it's one of the strongest songs from Rhymes' latest album Back on My B.S., which came out earlier this year. The track is hot, but the video is even hotter: A super-saturated Hype Williams joint that taps into Busta's classic court jester vibe. So blow out your candles, T-Pain, and be proud that if nothing else, you've brought Busta back to his technicolor greatness.

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Mariah Carey Not First Artist To Make Beautiful Music With Madison Avenue

Posted 8/3/09 4:21 pm EST by in Music, Poll


Perhaps you read that Mariah Carey's upcoming CD, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, will come with a 34-page booklet packed with ads for upscale perfumes and liquors. Her label, Island/Def Jam, is promoting the venture as a ground-breaker in integrating marketing for a music industry that has seen a steadily increasing decline in music sales over the past decade. But as pioneering as it is, Mariah is not the first artist to dip her toe into musical product placement by teaming up with advertisers to hawk her music.

Last year, Chris Brown's label cut a deal with the Wm. Wrigley, Jr. company to have the singer turn his song "Forever" into a jingle in ads for Doublemint gum by using the 1famous "double your pleasure, double your fun" tagline. While plenty of singers have lent their songs out to be used in commercials, the collaboration with the gum maker and Brown — whose ads were pulled after he was arrested for assaulting Rihanna — presented a new level of corporate collaboration.

Coca-Cola recently recruited Cee-Lo Green from Gnarls Barkley, Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump, Panic! At The Disco's Brendon Urie, Gym Class Heroes' Travis McCoy and Janelle Monae to write and sing a new jingle, "Open Happiness," which was turned into a music video aired, among other places, on MTV. And last year, Santigold, Pharrell Williams and Strokes singer Julian Casablancas hooked up to write "My Drive Thru," a jingle for Converse sneakers.

For years, artists like Jay-Z and Diddy have hyped their own brands in songs, and others, like Busta Rhymes, have gotten deals on the back end after paying tribute to liquors like Courvoisier in verse. But more recently, new band Parachute acoustically reworked their song "She is Love" to serve as the "single" for a new ad for beauty products giant Nivea. The deal was such a success that the band's next single is also going to be used in a Nivea ad.

But frankly, these deals pale in comparison to a few of the most notorious product placement gigs in music history. First came British rock icons the Who, whose third album, 1967's The Who Sell Out, was packaged as a concept record with fake commercials between the songs but which led to lawsuits by real commercial interests who cried foul over the parodies. Then there was Flaunt It, the notorious 1986 debut album from New Wave supergroup Sigue Sigue Sputnik, on which the band sold actual ad time between songs alongside fake ads that they created themselves.

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Madonna's Arms Aren't The Only Ripped Ones In Rock

Posted 7/30/09 6:17 pm EST by in Music


In the past few days, much has been made of the size of Madonna's biceps. Are they too big? Is that healthy? How did they get like that? No matter what the solution, one thing is for certain: Madonna could probably throw a pretty good chokehold on a would-be assailant.

But Madonna is hardly the only musician walking around with VIP tickets to the gun show. In fact, a number of rockers and rappers have committed themselves to keeping themselves jacked up — some more dramatic than others. 50 Cent kept himself ripped and his shirt off for most of his early career, making his muscles a part of his persona. But some people sneak up on you — remember when Timbaland all of a sudden got into weightlifting, or when you realized that Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails had become gigantic? Seriously, that guy could use his triceps to smash open walnuts.

Sometimes it makes sense when you consider the genre (the fact that Pete Steele of Type O Negative and Glenn Danzig are all jacked up isn't surprising considering their metal roots) and D'Angelo's muscles certainly became a part of his personality once the video for "Untitled (How Does It Feel)."

But who has the biggest arms among the muscular musicians? Click below for a sampling of buff musical bods, featuring Reznor, Akon and Busta Rhymes.

(Click here for more photos of ripped rockers, from Akon to Danzig!)

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Busta Rhymes Proves He's One Still Of Hip-Hop's Best Live Performers

Posted 5/19/09 4:46 pm EST by in Busta Rhymes, Live Music


Busta RhymesI've written about Busta Rhymes shows in the past. You've read my praise of his and Spliff Star's showmanship time and time again. I always throw in there that he's one of the greatest, if not the greatest, pure live performer in hip-hop ever.

The energy doesn't stop. They make you jump, scream, dance ... everything a commanding MC is supposed to do. The greatest thing about Mr. Rhymes and Street Colonel Spliff (please don't forget Spliff when you talk about a Bus stage show — Spliff is more than a hype man) is that no two shows are the same. They switch it up every time I seen them. Every single time? Amazing. So often I've gone to rap concerts where I can tell you what the rapper is going to do before his own DJ can. They don't switch formats. But Bus? True MC. He changes the show up.

Last night in Manhattan, at Santos Party House, we all had a ball: Bus, Spliff, me and all the fans. Read More...

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