This weekend's edition of "Saturday Night Live" didn't live up to the highs of the previous week (when Taylor Swift reigned supreme over just about every aspect of the show), but it still provided a handful of laughs. Host January Jones (of the critically-acclaimed television drama "Mad Men") looked a little lost at times but still turned in some memorable moments. But most of the notable highlights came courtesy of musical guests the Black Eyed Peas. The group turned in a trio of excellent performances and managed to get the normally staid "SNL" audience to make a little noise and bang around a bit.
The quartet also delivered on the comedy front. In one of the episode's first sketches, the Peas appeared as the guests on "Today," hosted by Kathy Lee Gifford (played by Kristen Wiig) and Hoda Kotb (played by newcomer Jenny Slate). During the sketch, Wiig's Gifford starts singing, which profoundly upsets the members of the Peas (their reactions are pretty priceless). Eventually, they attack Gifford. Fergie throws a haymaker, Apl.de.ap drops an elbow and Taboo even beats her with his new signature sneakers (as clever a piece of product placement as we've seen). Really, the Peas could have easily shared hosting and performing duties just like Swift did, as Fergie, Will.i.Am and Taboo all have acting experience (Will starred in this summer's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," Taboo appeared in "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li" and Fergie stars in the upcoming movie musical "Nine"). Check out the attack on the faux Kathy Lee Gifford below (jump ahead to the final minute if you can't take Wiig's schtick — nobody would blame you).
"People don't associate the Black Eyed Peas with the gay market, but our new record is a huge dance record, so people are starting to catch on. I want more gay love! They're completely gay-friendly. Are you kidding me? Look at how they dress! Kanye West really did a great thing for hip-hop and made it very mixed and open."
-Black Eyed Peas singer and "Nine" star Fergie, talking to magazine The Advocate about her band's desire to embrace the gay market. The star also admitted that she was comfortable flirting with women in the video for "I Gotta Feeling" because she has experimented in the past. "Yes, it was [my idea to flirt with the girls]," she said. "That was fun because it was so naughty. It was a big tease, but it felt very natural." While the latest Black Eyed Peas album The E.N.D. continues to tear up the charts (after 22 weeks, the album remains in the top 20 and has sold over a million copies), the singer born Stacy Ann Ferguson will also appear in "Nine," a film adaptation of the stage musical that is a spiritual sequel to Federico Fellini's "8 1/2."
This week saw the release of "DJ Hero," the new video game from the makers of "Guitar Hero" that trades in metal riffs for scratches and breakbeats. The game features 93 tracks from some of hip-hop's biggest names, including Eminem and Jay-Z. When Jigga sat down to talk about some of his favorite games and tracks, he noted that whenever he hits the gym, his listening habits aren't necessarily what you'd expect.
"I was a huge fan, and this is gonna mess me up for at least two weeks in the press, I'm gonna get like two weeks of backlash, but the Fergie song 'Big Girls Don't Cry' was really, really dope," he said. "I really liked that song, and I would sing it really loud, no matter where I was at in the gym. I know a couple of other guys were singing it loud, they won't say it, but I'm man enough to say that Fergie's 'Big Girls Don't Cry,' I would sing that in the gym."
Quite frankly, many of the people in the Newsroom have admitted to listening to Jay-Z albums while at the gym, though that would probably be a little strange for Jay himself. So Fergie's 2007 hit (from her solo album The Dutchess) doesn't make any less sense than anything else. While the song doesn't make an appearance in "DJ Hero," it is in a few other games (notably "Dance Dance Revolution X").
So just in case Hova needs to get psyched up for his performance of "Empire State of Mind" at tonight's World Series game at Yankee Stadium, he need look no further than the Newsroom for his favorite in-the-gym tune.
Last night before their bouncy, euphoric performance at the Outside Lands Festival, MTV News caught up with Fergie, Taboo and Apl.De.Ap of the Black Eyed Peas to talk about their recent chart record and the inspiration behind their summer smash "I Gotta Feeling," but they also took time out to mourn a friend. DJ AM had worked and partied with the Peas on multiple occasions, and the news of his death hit them hard.
""We couldn't believe it. We were just with him [last] Friday in Las Vegas," explained Taboo. "We DJed with him and we took a couple pictures, and to hear it is devastating." The night in question was AM's standing Friday night gig at the Palms Casino, which often featured guest appearances by the DJ's famous friends (of which he had many).
Fergie not only appreciated AM as a friend and collaborator but also as an artist who inspired her. "I remember going to this club called Firehouse back in the day," she said. "It was, like, the summer of '98 and he used to spin there. It's a big dance club and this one night I remember there was basically 10 people in the club, but I really wanted to dance that night. They kept the club open and he kept spinning really good music. He was so cool like that."
Like many of the artists paying tribute to him, Fergie noted AM's kindheartedness. "There wasn't a mean bone in that guy's body," she told MTV News. Though the Peas did not acknowledge AM during their performance a few minutes later, the group members are clearly holding their fallen friend in their hearts.
If you took the top of the Billboard charts and scooped up just about every huge female star on it, you wouldn't even come close to the lineup for the "Just Stand Up" charity single in support of the Stand Up to Cancer charity. Among the names on the roster are: Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Fergie, Sheryl Crow, Miley Cyrus, Melissa Etheridge, Ashanti, Natasha Bedingfield, Keyshia Cole, Ciara, Leona Lewis, LeAnn Rimes and Carrie Underwood.
By Jem Aswad and Steve Woods Photo by Denise Truscello
It's no surprise that Wednesday night's birthday party for ex-Guns N' Roses' guitarist Slash at the Bare pool lounge at the Mirage in Las Vegas was loaded with '80s/'90s-rock vets like Perry Farrell (Jane's Addiction, Porno for Pyros), Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine), Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains), Sen Dog (Cypress Hill) and ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons (OK, he's a bit older!). But it was a surprise to see Black Eyed Pea Fergie join in the festivities.
After many of the above musicians tore through classics like Jimi Hendrix's "Stone Free," David Bowie's "Jean Genie," Led Zep's "Whole Lotta Love" and ZZ Top's "La Grange" and "Gimme All Your Loving," Fergie hopped onstage for Heart's "Barracuda" and also GNR's "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "Paradise City."
Incidentally, Ferg was returning a favor from last weekend, when Slash joined her onstage at her show in Costa Mesa, California, which met with a decidedly displeased review in the Orange County Register: "Fergie should stick to doing what Fergie does best — pop-tart tunes — and stay away from rock."
Slash will continue to hang with the Peas on Thursday night (July 24) at the Jet nightclub (also at the Mirage), when Will.I.Am will DJ after Slash plays a special acoustic set.
Fergie must have never heard the old adage about not repeating the same fashion — because she's set to perform at Condé Nast's Fashion Rocks for the third year running this fall.
Also coming back to the Fashion Rocks stage are Mariah Carey (who headlined in 2005) and Rihanna (who performed with Elton John in 2006). But this year's show will have some new energy from the likes of Justin Timberlake, Duffy, Chris Brown and Lil Wayne for the event's fifth anniversary. Keith Urban and Kid Rock are also on the bill.
The concert will take place September 5 at New York's Radio City Music Hall and will be taped as a two-hour program to air four nights later, September 9, on CBS. Proceeds from the event will benefit Stand Up to Cancer.
I just spent the last half-hour or so talking to Fergie because someone had to do it. And the woman's life without the Peas (as you know) has been way busy.
She's releasing a deluxe version of The Dutchess on May 27th, and she talked to us about the five new tracks that will be on the album. I can't spill my guts about everything I heard, but I can tease you a little bit...
Tracks include a cover of Heart's "Barracuda" (if you saw Idol Gives Back, you know how excited Fergie is about this one). There's also a slower track called "Pick It Up," a Soulja Boy remix of "Clumsy," and, finally, "Labels or Love," which is going to be the Sex and the City movie theme song. Fergie, a huge fan of that show, told me that she relates to a mix of Samantha, Carrie, and Miranda…leaving out headband-sporting Charlotte. Guess that makes sense.
So now that she's become a flamin' hitmaker, what does Fergie do in her downtime? She watches reruns of "I Love New York," "Rock of Love," and "Flavor of Love" -- and she said she wasn’t just saying that because she was on MTV turf. (What's with the fascination with Brett Michaels...??)
We also talked about what's on her iPod, future movie plans, being a child star, and -- on another level -- the throes of addiction. For more on all that, keep checking back with MTVNews.com...
Some of you may have seen Fergie launch into a series of jawdropping, one-handed flips across the stage on "Idol" last night. This has us thinking of the more impressive acrobatics by musical talent we've seen. I mean, how many of you out there can land in a split? Or, more awesomely, handle a 360-spin while drumming suspended three stories in the air? And honestly, for all the talk of the...wuss that word..."indulgence" in this industry, how messed up can someone be and still handle that kind of a workout?
See if you can name everybody who appears in the quick clip above. The who, what, when, and where after the jump. Read more...
If you took the top of the Billboard charts and scooped up just about every huge female star on it, you wouldn't even come close to the lineup for the "Just Stand Up" charity single in support of the Stand Up to Cancer charity. Among the names on the roster are: Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Fergie, Sheryl Crow, Miley Cyrus, Melissa Etheridge, Ashanti, Natasha Bedingfield, Keyshia Cole, Ciara, Leona Lewis, LeAnn Rimes and Carrie Underwood.
