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Spotted: Kobe Bryant Nabs A Cartoon Network Hall Of Game Award

Posted 2/22/11 1:30 pm EST by in Television


Every day a multitude of stars wander through the halls of MTV News to talk about their latest projects and goof around with our intrepid correspondents. But sometimes we catch stars elsewhere, and that's why we put together Spotted!, a daily compendium of stars in the wild.

Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant finds himself in "Spotted" a lot, though the focus is usually on the celebrities who sit in the audience at the Staples Center and watch the 13-time all star dismantle the rest of the NBA. This time, the focus is on Black Mamba himself. Only a handful of hours after collecting his All-Star MVP award following an incredible performance that saw him put up 37 points and 14 rebounds, Bryant made his way over to the Barker Hanger in Santa Monica, California to receive yet another high-profile award. Bryant collected a prize at the first annual Cartoon Network Hall of Game Awards, the cable channel's first-ever awards show rewarding excellence in sports (Bryant snagged the "He Got Game" prize for being the most outstanding male athlete). The show, which airs this Friday, February 25, also saw visits from big-name athletes like Venus Williams, Lisa Leslie and Terrell Owens and featured a performance by Travie McCoy.

Bryant wasn't the only star rubbing elbows, as the Black Eyed Peas made their way to Japan and Taylor Swift's international tour rolled through Hong Kong. Click here for these photos as well as the entire "Spotted" archive, which features over 500 candid shots of stars like Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Eminem, Katy Perry, Jay-Z, the Jonas Brothers, Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Shakira and Kanye West!

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Ice Cube Hopes For A Kobe/LeBron Finals But Has The Lakers Going All The Way

Posted 4/28/10 2:40 pm EST by in Music


By Rahman Dukes

It's getting hot out in the wild, wild West. With his back against the wall, Monsta Kobe refused to hand over his reigning NBA crown reminding a young Oklahoma City Thunder why they won the chip last year, dismantling the Thunder 111-87 during the fifth game of their opening round series on Tuesday night (April 27). From the tip, the Lakers went on a 10-0 run and never looked back with their lead over the Thunder going as high as 40 points at one moment. Bryant ended the game with a mere 13 points and seven assists, focusing more on defense and letting Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum handle the scoring.

As the case with all Lakers games, the sidelines were filled with some of Hollywood's biggest stars. Leonardo DiCaprio, Eddie Murphy, Will Ferrell, Sylvester Stallone and Dustin Hoffman were all in attendance to witness the dismantling. Even O.G. playboy Hugh Hefner found enough time to stop playing with his bunnies to witness the Lakers hand out the beating.

One notably absent supporter was Ice Cube. Cube and his family have been snapped sitting on the sidelines at the Lakers show for years, but was a no-show last night. When we caught up with Cube last week (to discuss his excellent new single "I Rep That West"), he told us he hoped to finally see a Kobe and LeBron in a showdown in the Finals (though he'll still be putting his moolah on the Lakers).

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KRS-One And Lupe Fiasco Battle Rap For Nike (And Christmas)

Posted 12/21/09 3:54 pm EST by in Music


By Steven Roberts

Christmas is supposed to be a time for cheer, togetherness and the release of Christmas edition of Nike and LeBron James' Air Max LeBron VII, but leave it to a couple of holiday egos to get in the way.

In the newest three-part installment of Nike's "MVPuppets" series, Blizten (aka the #1 reindeer in the world) calls out Santa Claus, Lebron and Kobe for a game of basketball. In the first video, Blitzen — voiced by none other than Lupe Fiasco — calls Santa at home to unleash a barrage of venomous lyrics straight at Kris Kringle, Kobe and Bron Bron, challenging the three to a game. "B to the L-I-Tee-Zee/ Three suckers plus one me equals too easy/ Believe me the top of your wish list better read/ A chance to beat me/ Because you never got that."

Blitzen's confidence is shaken once the wise-cracking Santa — voiced by KRS-One — appears in the second video rocking a Kangol, a pair of Cazals and gold rope chain. "Y'all got issues and I'm not a subscriber/ You the reindeer, I'm the driver/ Kris Kringle, the gift's in my saliva/ I got every address in the hood, I'll find ya."

Finally, Santa, Kobe, and LeBron meet up with Blitzen and the other reindeer in the third video and proceed to embarrass the antlered one. In the third video, entitled "Dunking on Reindeer," Kobe, LeBron and Santa dismantle Blitzen and his team. "Vixen crying to Blitz like 'Oh no!/ LeBron took one from behind the free throw!'/ LeBron rose up, looked at him again said/ 'Merry Christmas Blitz'/ And shattered the rim."

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The NBA Draft's Big Question: Which New Star Will Try A Rap Career?

Posted 6/25/09 12:49 pm EST by in Music


Tonight's NBA Draft will make a handful of young men into instant millionaires and household names in their new teams' cities. The basketball contract is merely the beginning, as there will be endorsement deals, commercial acting, clothing lines and — if they're especially ambitious — an attempted rap career. The NBA is littered on all sides with players who dabbled in the hip-hop game, but the ratio of attempts to success is way off-kilter. Save for the platinum status of Shaquille O'Neal's Shaq Diesel, most of attempts at rap have ended in sadness. To wit:

» Kobe Bryant: He just won his fourth championship and is a former MVP, but his rhyming skills left a lot to be desired. He cut one track called "K.O.B.E." that featured Tyra Banks and that he performed on NBA TV and dropped in on a few cuts with 50 Cent and Beanie Sigel (all around 2000), but couldn't get his hip-hop career going.

» Tony Parker: The San Antonio Spurs guard put out a French-language rap album called TP in 2007 (Parker is originally from Belgium). Apparently he's not a bad MC, but since we don't speak French, we have to assume he's just reciting pie recipes or talking about kittens.
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How The Los Angeles Lakers Are Just Like The Wu-Tang Clan

Posted 6/17/09 3:06 pm EST by in Music, Sports



Having dispatched the Orlando Magic in five games, the Los Angeles Lakers are the 2009 NBA Champions. Kobe Bryant finally won without the help of Shaquille O'Neal (just like Jay-Z hoped he would), and the team will be celebrating with a parade in Los Angeles this afternoon. All through the playoffs, it was a familiar-looking Lakers team, and not because they resembled any of the past championship clubs. Rather, they looked and played a lot like the Wu-Tang Clan. Don't believe me? Check this out:

» Kobe Bryant is RZA: The most talented and controlling member of the team (and also the richest). Are they both a little bit crazy? Sure. Doesn't it just make us love them more? Definitely. Plus, both Kobe and RZA are friendly with gritty New York City film directors (Kobe & Spike Lee, RZA & Jim Jarmusch).

» Phil Jackson is GZA: The wise sage who is heavily influenced by Eastern philosophy.
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Lil Wayne Joins Tiger Woods, Chris Brown At NBA Finals In Orlando

Posted 6/10/09 1:00 pm EST by in Music, Sports


By Ben Hockin

Lil Wayne made yet another NBA Finals appearance last night, though his presence wasn't as lucky for Kobe Bryant and the Lakers as it was on Sunday night. The Orlando Magic won their first ever NBA Finals game, topping the Lakers 108-104 and cutting L.A.'s series lead to 2-1. Despite the obvious distraction created by Weezy's Cosby-esque cardigan, the Magic managed to set a Finals record by sinking 62.5 percent of their shots.

Perhaps Wayne's next basketball-related freestyle should be called "Dwight Howard," as the Orlando star scored 21 points and pulled down 14 rebounds.

Other celebrities at courtside included Spike Lee, Ludacris, Tiger Woods, University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, Chris Brown and hard-core Lakers fan Jack Nicholson. Clearly the draw of the NBA Finals was inspiration enough for these guys to travel (only Woods is local). We can only hope that Lil Wayne's visit to sunny Orlando will soon result in a mixtape about visiting Sea World.

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Justin Timberlake To Narrate Documentary Featuring Kobe Bryant And LeBron James

Posted 5/20/09 1:41 pm EST by in Justin Timberlake


Justin Timberlake isn't a stranger to the basketball court. Remember the days when he would do charity basketball games alongside Britney Spears?

Justin, who has spent many an evening at a Lakers game, has been tapped to narrate the NBA Entertainment doc "Dream Season: 23 & 24," presented by Nike and highlighting Kobe Bryant's and LeBron James' pursuit of this year's championship, and intensifying the hoops debate of "Who's better?" according to the press release.

Timberlake, who is referred to as the "King of Pop" in the release (if they say so — we're not sure how Michael Jackson feels about that), will narrate the doc about the "Kings of the Court."

In the past, Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Terrence Howard, Djimon Hounsou and Chris Rock have narrated basketball specials. Justin's special airs tomorrow night at 7 p.m.

Justin hosted the ESPY Awards for the channel last year. "I am starstruck. I mean, I grew up such a sports nut, and I'm still such a sports nut," he said. "If we would have had a conversation when I was 14 years old, I mean, you could not convince me that I was not going to play in the NBA."

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Shaq: Freestyle Or Flagrant Foul? Our Hip-Hop Brain Trust Weighs In

Posted 6/24/08 4:46 pm EST by in hip-hop


By Danielle Beavers

Shaq, don't quit your multimillion-dollar day job.

Sunday night, the Phoenix Suns center took over the mic at a New York nightclub. He called what he did a "freestyle." Others called it a "verbal attack" on archrival Kobe Bryant. In case you missed it, Shaq bashed his ex-teammate — with whom he won three NBA titles — with lines like "Last week Kobe couldn't do it without me." For the chorus, he got the whole crowd to chant, "Kobe, tell me how my ass tastes." But the "big man" really made it personal with the line "I'm a horse/ Kobe ratted me out/ That's why I'm getting divorced," referring to the L.A. Lakers shooting guard's 2003 rape case, during which Kobe said he should've been like Shaq and paid his women not to say anything. And that's where the friendship ended and the rivalry began.

"I'm totally cool with Kobe. No issue at all," Shaq told ESPN.com Monday afternoon. "I was freestyling. That's all. It was all done in fun. Nothing serious whatsoever. ... That is what MCs do. They freestyle when called upon."

Given that Shaq is using the "freestyle" defense, we decided to call in the experts. We tapped some members of our Hip-Hop Brain Trust — the panel that gave us "The Hottest MCs in the Game," "The Greatest MCs of All Time" and your weekly dose of "Mixtape Monday" — to find out how Shaq measures up. Is this really "what MCs do"? It turns out his greatest sin might have been dissing Patrick Ewing. ...

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