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Stop Saying You Are Retiring If You Are Really Not Retiring

Posted 7/14/11 11:38 am EST by in Lil Wayne, rock criticism you're actually interested in


Last night, Cher alerted us to the fact she is in the recording studio AND recording a song by Lady Gaga and super producer RedOne called “The Greatest Thing.” So that’s cool.

What’s kind of weird though is that the song comes over five years after Cher wrapped up her massive Living Proof: The Farewell Tour, which she claimed would be her final concert tour. Three years later, of course, she began a very successful three-year residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, so it was really less of a “farewell” than it was a “see you guys in a bit.” And last fall while promoting her film Burlesque, she told a few interviewers she wanted to hit the road again for another tour – that she preferred arena crowds to the tourist-heavy audiences attracted to shows in Vegas.

Sure, the living legend never swore off recording (and thank goodness!), but it got us thinking about stars who announce their retirement … and then never really retire. Sure, they might go away for a hot second, but then they come back, often as big as ever, making the whole retirement hubbub look like an elaborate ruse. Read More...

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Albums We Hope To Hear In 2011

Posted 6/23/11 10:30 am EST by in listicle


Lil Wayne

By Zachary Swickey

Talking with Zane Low on BBC Radio 1, The Killers revealed they have begun work on their fourth album. Asked if they had started writing the follow-up to ‘08’s Day & Age, frontman Brandon Flowers responded, “We have about four or five [songs]. We’ve put them up on a board and they’re sounding good. We think they’re strong.”

The Killers’ last album was ambitious and took the group’s core sound to the next level. We look forward to hearing what the guys have up their sleeve, but it got us thinking about all of the other new albums that we hope to hear before our final year on earth (2012, from what I hear). These albums are “supposed” to come out in 2011, but we’re just going to have to wait and see.

Jay-Z and Kanye West, Watch the Throne

A joint album from the two biggest names in hip-hop is bound to get even the most casual fans excited. The effort was first envisioned as an EP to be released by the end of 2010. Then it graduated to a full-length album with a hopeful release date sometime in March, but as of today, it’s still “TBD.” The single that has seen the light of day, “H.A.M.”, is a solid jam from the two, but it’s not as good as the sum of their parts should be. Perhaps they realized this, and are taking their time making an album that is worthy of their talents.

Blink-182, Untitled Sixth Album

I recall Blink-182 being listed as presenters at the ‘09 Grammys and thinking, “Oh, well they’re getting back together,” which is exactly what they announced at the awards. A reunion tour soon followed that summer and the band mentioned writing a new song that they would play on the road (which they never played). Throughout the second half of 2010, Blink provided updates with hopeful release windows that have all come and gone. They canceled their European tour for this summer, because the album is still incomplete. The group has until July 31 to hand their work over to Geffen Records, and since they’re headlining the Honda Civic Tour with My Chemical Romance later this summer, it better be ready.

Lil Wayne, Tha Carter IV

It hasn’t been all that long since we’ve heard from Lil Wayne – it never is, considering he guest appears on every other rapper’s song (I’m counting 13 so far in ’11). He released two albums in 2010, neither of which were particularly well-received (compared to his past work), but neither of those were bearing the banner Tha Carter either. Weezy’s The Carta IV is sure to wow us and be the best thing we’ve heard in rap since Kanye’s Dark Twisted Fantasy. It will likely feature some other huge names in hip-hop, like Drake, Rick Ross and Yeezy himself. After 3-4 delays, the current “hopeful” release date is August 29. Fingers crossed!

Read on for more. Read More...

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Juelz Santana Explains Lil Wayne Joint Album Delay

Posted 6/21/11 6:00 pm EST by in Lil Wayne


By Rahman J. Dukes

From RapFix: Juelz Santana is back and ready to put his best foot forward in the rap game following a near three year hiatus that almost derailed the Harlem MC's career. Back around 2007 Juelz along with Lil Wayne were the hottest ticket on the next wave of Hip-Hop superstars. Aside from the fact the two were musically inclined, Weezy and Els (as Wayne calls him) were close friends who began crafting a full length LP together titled I Can't Feel My Face. The two slaughtered the mixtape game with countless apperances and even supported each other while out on the road (Juelz was a special guest at the Lil Wayne show where he was arrested on gun possession charges and was also briefly detained himself.) With the announcement of their joint album heads were sent into a Twilight Zone over excitement. Only thing is, the album never surfaced.

Lil Wayne would soon embark on a marathon like trek securing the number one spot on MTV News's critically acclaimed Hottest MCs In The Game program, then the following year smashing rap history with the highly anticipated 2008 release of his Carter 3 album, selling one million units of the disc in one week. Weezy was touted as rap's number one shotta and was showing no signs of slowing down. His partner in rhyme Juelz was left standing in the rafters watching Wayne run away with the game.

For more, visit RapFix.

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Songs Of The Summer: Rap/Hip-Hop

Posted 6/21/11 11:00 am EST by in drake, Lil Wayne, lupe fiasco, Rick-Ross


By Morgan Schwartz and Matt Goodhue

If you’re not a pop person and found our first five songs of the summer to be a little, well, not your taste, don’t sweat it. We compiled our favorite rap/hip-hop jams for the summer to give you a taste of what we’re listening to. Whether the songs speak of summer romances or partying the night away, they are sure to set the mood for the best season of the year.

1. “Super Bass,” Nicki Minaj

If we’ve learned anything from Ms. Minaj, it would be that girls can do rap and hip-hop just as well, if not better, than any man. In this new single, Nicki does what she does best and raps over an awesome beat before breaking into a catchy chorus that gives those of us not quick enough to spit along with her a chance to sing with this summer jam. The music video’s neon colors and sexy outfits are enough to put it at the top of our playlist, and the sex appeal combined with Nicki’s lyrics may just get us ready for our own summer romance!

2. “Out of My Head,” Lupe Fiasco ft. Trey Songz

This has definitely been a great year for Lupe and it’s about to be an even better summer. Although this song of isn’t one of the singles off his new album, Lasers, his performance of this jam at the 2011 MTV Movie Awards got our attention. Like “Super Bass,” “Out of My Head” talks about a possible crush and is perfect for your blossoming summer love. Trey Songz’s hook – “girl I want you to know/I can’t get you out of my head, my head” – makes us think this song could be the soundtrack to your summer romance? You’ll have to download it to find out…

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Lil Wayne's Scrabble And Other Faux Board Games We'd Buy

Posted 6/10/11 5:24 pm EST by in Lil Wayne, Music


By Zachary Swickey

The metal gods known as Metallica have settled down quite a bit over the years. Fans no longer refer to them as "Alcoholica," and as the therapy sessions featured in their "Some Kind of Monster" documentary showed, they aren't as concerned about keeping their intimidating image (remember the backlash they got just for cutting their hair back in '96?). So, it doesn't seem as crazy that they will soon be offering their own version of America's most iconic board game: Monopoly.

Starting June 13, via their online store, Metallica will join ranks of the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and KISS, who have all previously been bestowed with the same distinction. To give you the gist, the previous custom edition of Kiss featured Gene's boot and a satchel of money as possible tokens, Detroit Rock City and a KISS Pinball Machine as board spaces, and the cards of chance featured some interesting situations: "Took 2nd place in the Girls of KISS Beauty Contest. Collect $100!"

There are no further details on what Metallica's board will entail, but don't be surprised if the "Go directly to jail" space bears Napster's logo, or you pull a card that reads, "Burned onstage by pyrotechnics and suffer third-degree burns. Lose a turn."

We think some other artists deserve this board game treatment too, although, we kind of doubt these would show up on the shelves of Toys "R" Us soon.

Katy Perry's Candy Land: How has this not already been done? Her music video for "California Gurls" was obviously inspired by this game, and Hasbro probably owes her for the free advertising. Read More...

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Why Lil Wayne Is A Lot Like 'Weird Al' Yankovic

Posted 3/7/11 1:30 pm EST by in Music


Last week saw the release of a number of huge music video premieres from some of the biggest names in music. Lady Gaga pulled back the curtain on the trippy "Born This Way," the Strokes unveiled the cool-looking clip for "Under Cover of Darkness" and Jennifer Lopez capped off an excellent week of "American Idol" action with her new video for "On the Floor." But perhaps the biggest release of last week was the video for Lil Wayne's "6 Foot 7 Foot." The deeply cinematic clip (directed by innovator Hype Williams) features a number of eye-popping visual effects that are mostly centered around an homage to the 2010 Christopher Nolan film "Inception."

One of the key aspects of "6 Foot 7 Foot" that really stands out is the fact that many of the word pictures that Weezy paints in the song are directly represented in visual form in the video. For example, when Wayne references "Father Time" and "Mother Nature," there are quick shots of each character dropped into the clip. It's a strangely literal way to make a music video, and the only other artist who really approaches videos like that is "Weird Al" Yankovic.

For the duration of his career, "Weird Al" has been one of the more inventive video artists out there, mostly because his songs contain such visual details and specific jokes that lend themselves to visual representation. "Weird Al" videos are always collections of images that directly illustrate the words in the song. Again, it's incredibly literal but strangely effective.

It's not the first time Wayne has gone down this video-making road, as his clip for "I'm Single" was even more literal. He raps about his bedroom, and the clip immediately cuts to a shot of a bedroom. He references "camo shorts," and there's a shot of him holding a pair of camo shorts. Even when he says "I'm tired," there's a shot of Wayne stretching in the studio like he's exhausted. That sort of approach isn't that far removed from Yankovic's classic clip for "Amish Paradise," which contains visual gags about farming and beards.


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'Dancing With The Stars,' Lady Gaga's Video And Justin Bieber's Birthday: This Week's Deep Cuts

Posted 3/4/11 5:30 pm EST by in Deep Cuts


The week is over, and for the first time in a long time, there aren't any awards shows demanding your attention on your days of rest. So you should feel free to catch up with any Oscar-winning films you might have missed, listen to R.E.M.'s excellent new album Collapse Into Now or simply make yourself a series of delicious omelets while watching old episodes of "Deadwood" (the latter idea probably applies to a very small percentage of you, but that doesn't make it any less good an idea). In the meantime, click through the links below to catch up with all the greatness you might have missed on this week's MTV Newsroom blog, including a boatload of music video premieres and a shocking number of entries about metal.

» The cast of "Dancing With the Stars" was announced earlier this week, and it's one of the most evenly balanced groups the show has ever had.

» Trent Reznor snagged an Oscar last weekend, which means he is halfway to his EGOT.

» You know who else had a good time at the Oscars (or at least at the Vanity Fair Oscar party)? Justin Bieber, who made out with Selena Gomez and shot the breeze with Mick Jagger.

» "American Idol" now has the 13 finalists who will compete for the top prize, a field that was entirely predicted by readers of the MTV Newsroom blog.

» There were all sorts of new music videos that premiered over the course of the week, including the new Lady Gaga clip for "Born This Way." It's epic, of course, and features an already-beloved intro that features space births, unicorns and machine guns.

» Lil Wayne also pulled the curtain back on the video for "6 Foot 7 Foot," which featured a tribute to "Inception" and Weezy's severed head.
Read More...

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Lil Wayne's '6 Foot 7 Foot' Video: The Key Scene

Posted 3/3/11 5:30 pm EST by in Music


Though he was rarely out of the public eye during his stint behind bars (he did, after all, put out a chart-topping album in I Am Not a Human Being while he was incarcerated), Lil Wayne has been greatly missed from the world of music videos. Weezy has always had a sharp eye for killer visual applications to his songs, whether they are low-fi toss-offs ("I'm Single") or high-gloss pieces of cinema ("Got Money").

His just-released video for "6 Foot 7 Foot" (the first song of his post-Rikers career and the first piece of Tha Carter IV) certainly falls in the latter category. Directed by Hype Williams, the clip not only features a much-talked-about tribute to "Inception" (which features Wayne falling into a tub of water in slow motion and also being tossed around in a van, just like the characters in the Christopher Nolan film) but also has a number of excellent special effects. In the key scene, Wayne even loses his head.

Interestingly, the scene above comes right when Wayne spits a line about cutting off heads, and there are a number of images in the clip that are fantastically literal like that (the scenes of Father Time and Mother Nature are especially great). It makes for an excellent visual companion to Wayne's stream-of-consciousness lyrics — it's like being inside Weezy's head at all times.

Recently, Wayne sat down with MTV News' Sway on the set of the video and talked about the evolution of "6 Foot 7 Foot," the growth of his Young Money crew and the status of Tha Carter IV.

What do you think of the new Lil Wayne video? Let us know in the comments!

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The Bonnaroo 2011 Lineup: Five Acts You Must See

Posted 2/15/11 5:00 pm EST by in Music


With Coachella already set to go and a handful of Lollapalooza acts already leaking out, the summer festival season is already shaping up to be one of the biggest and best of all time. But what of Bonnaroo, the rural Tennessee camping adventure that began as a gathering of jam band obsessives but has evolved into one of the best music events in the world? On Tuesday morning (February 15), the Bonnaroo lineup was unveiled, with Eminem, Lil Wayne and Arcade Fire serving as the big headliners at this year's model (which will run June 9-12 in Manchester, Tennessee). The top line is rounded out by the likes of the Strokes, the Black Keys, My Morning Jacket, Florence and the Machine and a reuniting Buffalo Springfield (making their only festival appearance).

That's an eclectic lineup, for sure (there's more hip-hop on the bill than ever before, especially in the headlining spots), but there's still plenty for the Bonnaroo purists. No matter who you are, you'll be able to find something.

But what if you don't even know what you're looking for? Here are five acts on the Bonnaroo bill who should be circled, highlighted and checked off on your agenda as you make your way into the wilderness.

Lil Wayne
Sure, he's a headliner and a major star, but how often do you get to see him in a festival setting? With a crowd that size and a sound system of that magnitude at his disposal (not to mention an exceptionally mellow crowd), Lil Wayne could turn in one of those transcendent performances you always end up hearing about later. Except this time, you're actually there.

The Sword
For the uninitiated, the Sword play the sort of zonked-out, sludgy, chugging hard rock sometimes referred to as "stoner metal," but they're far more dynamic than that reductive moniker suggests. Their live show is legendarily sharp, and they should provide some much-needed evil amidst all the good vibes in Manchester (because you need balance, you see).

The Black Keys
Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney are secretly one of the best festival bands working, able to stretch their tunes into sweaty, fuzzy orgies of sound that dart, groove and explode. Their set at Lollapalooza 2008 was a revelation, and they've only gotten better since then.

Girl Talk
For a group that consists of little more than a guy and a laptop, Girl Talk is always shockingly dynamic. At festivals, Greg Gillis turns his anything-goes approach into the red, and his set at Bonnaroo is likely to end in mass hysteria and free hugs. So, you know, greatness.

Wiz Khalifa
If nothing else, this show should be an excellent test for one of the most buzz-worthy new MCs on the scene. Can Wiz handle the big crowds? Can his claustrophobic tracks work outdoors? Whether Wiz succeeds or fails (and the former is far more likely), it should be a heck of a party.

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Lil Wayne Promises New Video Will Be A 'Game Changer,' But What Will That Mean?

Posted 2/7/11 5:45 pm EST by in Music


Lil Wayne has been a free man for nearly six months, and while in that time the prolific rapper has unleashed a handful of excellent tracks (including the pro-Packers anthem "Green and Yellow"), we have yet to see Weezy in a music video since his release from Riker's Island in November. But that all is going to change this week when Weezy unveils the video for the boisterous single "6 Foot 7 Foot," which he will do live on MTV in special MTV News presentation called "MTV First: Lil Wayne," which will air live at 8 p.m. Eastern. When MTV News' Sway (who will also host Thursday's show) visited the set of "6 Foot 7 Foot" in Miami a few weeks ago, Wayne promised that the video would not only be excellent but that it would be something that would change the medium forever.

"I would love to tell everybody the concept, but there will be people trying to get the idea and put it out before '6 Foot 7 Foot' drops," Weezy explained. "But once people see the '6 Foot 7 Foot,' I guarantee that it's going to be a game changer."

While that certainly gets the MTV Newsroom crew and Weezy's millions of fans excited, what does Weezy actually mean when he says the video is going to be a "game changer"? Like any art form, music videos gradually evolve, but every once in a while a clip comes along that pushes things forward exponentially. Could "6 Foot 7 Foot" be like one of these videos?

Michael Jackson, "Thriller"
It's difficult (and also completely unfair) to compare anything to any of Michael Jackson's videos, but it's especially harsh to try to live up to the intense, cinematic "Thriller." But does Wayne's video have a new cinematic vision that pushes beyond Jackson's incredible sense of scope?

Dire Straits, "Money for Nothing"
While it looks sort of cheesy now, the animation in "Money for Nothing" was incredibly impressive back in the early days of MTV, and it threw open the doors for animated clips on the network.

Weezer, "Buddy Holly" and Beastie Boys, "Sabotage"
Along with David Fincher and Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze is one of the greatest music video directors of all time, mostly because his willingness to stretch the technical abilities of the medium matched up well with his sharp sense of humor. While not his first rodeo, the one-two punch of "Sabotage" and "Buddy Holly" put Jonze on the map as a force in the music video universe.

Jamiroquai, "Virtual Insanity"
You know what would make Lil Wayne's new video a tremendous success? If he made it look exactly like this minimalist, mind-bending clip.

Madonna, "Ray of Light"
Notice the level of names mentioned here? It makes sense that some of the greatest artists have also made some of the biggest videos, and while Madonna has regularly raised the bar in her clips, "Ray of Light" is an eye-popping masterpiece that kicked it up a notch for everybody else in the business.

What do you think we'll see in the video for Lil Wayne's "6 Foot 7 Foot"? Let us know in the comments!

Catch Lil Wayne's "6 Foot 7 Foot" video on "MTV First: Lil Wayne," which airs this Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern on MTV. Plus, you can submit questions for Weezy via MTV.com, Facebook or Twitter by using the hashtag #askweezy.

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