By Reneé Jackson

You can't tell me the King of Pop is dead, because I ran into him at least 15 times at the baddest birthday party in history, hosted by director and Jackson friend Spike Lee. Despite the rain, thousands of adoring fans flocked to Prospect Park in Brooklyn on Saturday (August 29) to wish Michael Jackson a happy 51st birthday.

Before making my way in, I stopped to sign the memorial wall where fans were leaving heartfelt messages for the late pop icon. I even put an MTV stamp on the wall to show our appreciation for how Jackson revolutionized music videos (after all, will anyone ever top "Thriller"?). As I made my way through the crowd, I was overwhelmed by a plethora of Michaels: Red leather jacket "Thriller" Michael, white tank top "Dirty Diana" Michael and sequined "Billie Jean" Michael, but my favorite was a six-year-old boy with his hat hung low over his eyes like "Smooth Criminal" Michael. The signature sequined glove covered the hands of thousands of fans both young and old, with most rocking MJ T-shirts, buttons and hats.

Spike opened the festivities by introducing Al Sharpton, who proclaimed "This is Brooklyn at its best ... Michael Jackson style!" Ed Lover, former host of "Yo! MTV Raps," was joined on stage by Tracey Morgan and former "106 & Park" host Free, and the group danced on stage building the momentum. Finally, it came: DJ Spinna dropped "Thriller" onto the turntables and every sequined glove went up in the air, waving in unison imitating the gothic figures from the classic video.

"P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" and "Wanna be Startin' Somethin'" followed immediately as fans wildly waved bright orange and black signs with the song's famous tag line.

Sharpton nailed the tenor of the day when he said, "We will never forget Michael Jackson. Michael, rock me one more time!"

It's safe to say that Jay-Z is absolutely killing it right now: He's got one of the most anticipated hip-hop albums in years coming out next month, he's nominated for a bunch of Video Music Awards, he'll be performing at the ceremony on September 13 and his Rocawear clothing line is celebrating its 10 year anniversary. It was the latter that brought Jigga out Monday night to the Rocawear showroom in New York City for a party with Rihanna, actor Anthony Anderson and film director Spike Lee, who also helmed the new commercial for the clothing line.

(Click here for more photos of Jay-Z, Rihanna and more at Rocawear's 10th anniversary party!)

Absent from the party was Hova's newest friend Oprah Winfrey, who recently hung with Jay at the Marcy Projects in Brooklyn where he grew up before a lengthy sit-down interview. It's all part of a big promotional push for The Blueprint 3, which is the first release on Jay's Live Nation-assisted Roc Nation label. There's more to come from Hova, too: He just wrapped shooting the video for the single "Run This Town" (which also features Rihanna and The Blueprint 3 producer Kanye West) and will be the first musical guest for another Jay (Leno, that is) when his new NBC show premieres next month.

In an interview published this morning in the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper, badass cowboy/cop actor and Oscar-hoarding director Clint Eastwood indicated that fellow filmmaker Spike Lee should just "shut his face" when it comes to criticism of Clint's "Flags of Our Fathers."

See, Lee dared to wonder aloud why there weren't any black soldiers in the World War II drama. "There were many African-Americans who survived that war and who were upset at Clint for not having one [in the films]," Lee explained to MTV News today. "That was his version: The negro soldier did not exist. I have a different version."

So will the war of words continue in the pages of the press? Not likely — or at least not from Lee's side, anyway.

"I'm going to take the Obama high road," he said. "It's not a feud."

Head on over to the MTV Movies Blog for the full story ...