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--."

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.

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.

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!)

I'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...

By Rahman Dukes

Early Tuesday morning, after returning from Cam'ron's show at the Highline Ballroom in New York, I settled in after a long night out on the town. Doing my normal late-night business, I hit the Web to see what's popping and who was on top of their game by posting the Cam footage online not even two hours after the show ended. RapRadar.com was the winner. (Shouts to the O.G. Els. That's how you report on a show.)

Upon further searching, I came across some Busta Rhymes footage where he was shouting out a variety of Internet key players, whom he individually named one by one. One of those names was none other than yours truly: "I want to thank Rahman [pronounced Rock-mon] Dukes from MTV.com." I sat and watched a few times in amazement. Thanks, Bus. That's all I can say.

Busta might not know it, but we actually go way back. I'm a vet at MTV who's been in this business for over a decade, and one of my first run-ins with an artist was with Busta Rhymes. Bus and Puff Daddy made their way to the MTV studios for the premiere of Puff's "Victory" single with the late, great Notorious B.I.G. Moments before their appearance on-air, Busta blessed me by agreeing to pose for a photo.

Now, obviously, I have my share of artist moments, considering my time at 1515, but I'll always remember that day. Always. I've dealt with Bus on many occasions, but anyone who knows me knows the god isn't one to ride these artists' crown jewels. I'd like for them to naturally acknowledge me. And that's what I felt Bus did. So, again: Thanks, Bus.

Hopefully, he'll see this. Go cop that Back On My B.S. album.

NEW YORK — The city that never sleeps is often the city that never runs out of options. Tuesday was one of those nights when it felt like everybody came out — there were parties and concerts all night long. Joe Budden decided against heavy fanfare and posturing and kept it gully with a party at the New Era flagship store in lower Manhattan to usher in the release of his latest LP, Padded Room.

Meanwhile, The-Dream was pumping up anticipation for his Love Vs. Money album, which drops on March 10. He performed at B.B. King's Blues Club & Grill.

The major event of the night, though, was the party for King magazine. The home of busty and lusted-after models and female celebrities celebrated its 50th issue. Cute-as-a-button Christina Milian — who was recently linked romantically with The-Dream — got the cover-girl honors for the issue, and although Milian wasn't in attendance, the mag’s founder, Datwon Thomas, and editor-in-chief Jermaine Hall welcomed lovelies such as Danity Kane's Dawn Richard (who, in addition to speaking with us recently about the Danity Kane split, has a spread in the Milian issue) and radio personality Free. Meanwhile, fly guys such as Fabolous were spotted in the crowd while Busta Rhymes was a guest of Ron Browz onstage.

Read more...

Nas has joined some of his hip-hop peers such as Juelz Santana and Busta Rhymes who became first-time voters in the 2008 election. The Queens MC — who's on tour in Oslo, Norway — was so excited about the election that he got in the booth earlier today and recorded a new song called "Election Night," apparently in the wee hours of the morning. DJ Green Lantern produced and sent MTV News a copy of the record.

"I'm currently on tour in Europe with Nas and we were at dinner last night talking about how crazy it is that we're not in the states on Election Day," Lantern wrote in an e-mail. "Someone quoted his verse from 'Black President,' when he said 'What's the Black Prez thinkin' on Election Night?' And Nas said, 'Set up the mic — I'm gonna speak on that.' And the result is 'Election Night.' "

Continue reading the story behind Nas' new song "Election Night."

Everybody get out and party in New York! Last night in the Big Apple, music stars were out doing it up. Here's a sample of the star sightings:

Details and photos after the jump!
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· One of Busta Rhymes' bodyguards was found shot dead in the back of his pickup in Queens on Wednesday.

· According to this report, “American Idol” producers had originally booked Michael Jackson, rather than George Michael, to perform on the show's finale.

· First, Pete Wentz praised John Mayer for his deep thoughts on celebrity, then Mayer returned the favor, calling the newlywed father-to-be “one of the best eggs in the music industry." Aww.

· How can something so wrong feel so right? Ladies and gentlemen, someone has made a bluegrass/gangsta rap mash-up album.