Tag Archives: artists

Great Trees of Toronto as Photographed by Vince Pietropaolo

Images from sidespacegallery : American Elm Everyone has their favourite tree; one that they pass en route to work or school or in the neighbour’s front yard. Toronto has its own fair share and they are immortalized in a new exhibition: Vincenzo Pietropoalo’s Toronto Tree Portraits . In an interesting twist, local celebrities and artists were asked to chose and describe their favourites which were then lovingly photographed. A musician loved a willow tree on a stranger’s garden, seen from a passing streetcar. Sh… Read the full story on TreeHugger

See the article here:
Great Trees of Toronto as Photographed by Vince Pietropaolo

Drake Confirms November 5 Lil Wayne Homecoming Concert

Drizzy also pleads with Wiz Khalifa to join him on Light Dreams and Nightmares Tour during Ustream broadcast. By Mawuse Ziegbe Drake Photo: Michael Caulfield/ WireImage Drake is doing it big right now. The Toronto MC’s debut album, Thank Me Later, is platinum, he’s about to headline his upcoming Light Dreams and Nightmares Tour and he’s just notched 1 million Twitter followers. With that type of success, there’s probably very little that is out of the lyricist’s reach. But Drake revealed that there is one thing he wants that he hasn’t been able to secure yet: snagging Wiz Khalifa as his tourmate. “I had a little bit of a fan moment, I tried to get this third cat on my tour,” Drizzy told more than 30,000 fans who logged on to check him out live on Ustream on Thursday (August 19). The broadcast came on the heels of the premiere of his “Miss Me” video with Lil Wayne. Apparently, Drake was keeping his plan to add another act to his tour on the low. “You know we was trying to get Wiz on the tour,” he said, simultaneously informing listeners and his team who were hanging out in the room and clearly didn’t know what he was referring to. The MC then addressed his fans once again: “Hopefully, the Light Dreams [and] Nightmares Tour, depending on what city we go to, it’ll be Clipse, Bun B and Wiz Khalifa . That’s what I’m hoping. I don’t know, maybe I spoke too soon.” Clipse were already confirmed to join the Young Money MC on the road, along with Houston O.G. Bun B, when the tour kicks off on September 20 in Miami. The chart-topping singer and rapper asked the “Hottest Breakthrough MC” directly about possibly joining the fall tour. “If Wiz by any chance watches this, you gotta make some calls for me and make this happen,” Drake said. “We got that young energy right now, we need to go out here and kill these people.” In addition to making his plea for a more Taylor Gang-friendly Light Dreams tour lineup, the MC said he really wants to work with producer 9th Wonder on the follow-up to Thank Me Later. “9th, can we start this next album please?” Drake asked. “Because I know you in the studio,” he added, urging the North Carolina artist to work on his sophomore effort, which Drizzy hopes to release by next year. The rapper also revealed that he initially wanted the ex-Little Brother beatsmith to contribute to Later, but wasn’t able to make it happen. “I’d greatly appreciate it if we could get some work done because I know last time we weren’t able to do that.” While his touring and production rosters are still up in the air, Drake said he could confirm to fans that one particular event is a definite: a homecoming concert for Lil Wayne. “November 5, the Welcome Home Weezy concert,” Drake said. Although he didn’t reveal the location, Drizzy assured fans they wouldn’t want to miss it. “That’s gonna be crazy,” Drizzy smiled. “I told you I got you. I would never just Ustream and talk about nothing.” Do you think Drake and Wiz Khalifa should tour together? Let us know in the comments! Related Artists Drake Lil Wayne Wiz Khalifa

More here:
Drake Confirms November 5 Lil Wayne Homecoming Concert

Miranda Kerr And Orlando Bloom Expecting A Baby

Victoria’s Secret model and ‘Lord of the Rings’ star got married last month. By Mawuse Ziegbe Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom Photo: Getty Images Newlyweds Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom have swiftly headed into the next chapter of their domestic bliss: Kerr confirmed that the couple are expecting their first child. “Yes, I am pregnant. Four months along,” Kerr told Spanish Vogue, according to according to People. The Victoria’s Secret model said it was initially difficult to keep news of the pregnancy quiet. “I remember on one occasion in the early days [of my pregnancy] when it was still too soon to say anything, and I had a dreadful time at one job.” The pair confirmed their engagement in June and tied the knot just last month. Kerr announced the nuptials when she nixed an appearance at Australian department store David Jones to join Bloom at the altar. “David Jones very graciously released me during this period so we could celebrate an intimate ceremony and honeymoon together,” Kerr said in the statement. “I’m very much a part of the David Jones Family and I am very committed to my role. I am enormously grateful to David Jones to have been given this time to enjoy such a special moment in my life.” The couple began dating in 2007 but didn’t hit the scene publicly until April 2008. “We were friends for a while, and then it just developed into a little more,” Kerr told Hello! magazine in September 2008. Kerr told Page Six magazine in the same year that she expected to abandon her globe-trotting career in favor of a more low-key, family-oriented lifestyle. “I’ve always wanted kids, so … someday … eventually, yes, it will happen,” she said. “My ideal situation would be to live on a farm in a solar-powered house with a hammock and a vegetable patch. When this is all over, that’s where I’ll be.” Share your well-wishes for the couple in the comments!

Here is the original post:
Miranda Kerr And Orlando Bloom Expecting A Baby

Wyclef Jean Excluded From Haiti Presidential Candidates List

‘He is not on the list,’ an electoral official told Reuters on Thursday. By Kara Warner Wyclef Jean Photo: Michelly Rall/ Getty Images Wyclef Jean’s Haitian Presidential run might be cut short. According to Reuters, Jean is not on the list of approved candidates (released on Thursdaywho were found to have satisfied legal requirements to run in the country’s November 28 presidential election. Since the rapper announced his bid for office on “Larry King Live” earlier this month, his plans have been met largely with enthusiasm from the country’s residents, but he has been challenged on one key presidential requirement: residency. “He is not on the list as I speak,” an electoral official told Reuters, citing legal requirements that Jean does not meet as the reason for his exclusion. However, the official would not reveal which specific requirements the singer has failed to meet. Wyclef, who left Haiti with his family to live in New York at the age of 9, said on CNN that he was running because he felt he was being “drafted by the population,” in the wake of the country’s devastating January earthquake. “After January 12 … being out here with my wife and picking up dead bodies from the ground, I felt that because of the youth of Haiti and the population, that this is not even Wyclef saying that ‘I want to be the president of Haiti.’ I feel like I’m being drafted by the population right now to give them a different face, a different voice,” the singer explained. Wyclef has acknowledged his lack of political experience, but also argued that his position as a political outsider would work to his advantage. “What qualifies me to be president of Haiti, when I look at the past 200 years, with what our people have suffered, Wolf — political instability, coup after coup d’

MTV And Get Schooled Host ‘Waiting for ‘Superman’ ‘ Screening

MTV News’ Sway Calloway talks to students from Chicago youth groups about failing public schools, upcoming doc from ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ director. By Nick Neofitdis “Waiting For Superman” Photo: Paramount CHICAGO — The American education system is failing a large segment of the population. Need proof? The current generation of students will be less literate than the one before it, according to a new documentary. MTV teamed up with the Get Schooled campaign to host a screening this week in Chicago of “Waiting for ‘Superman.’ ” The upcoming doc from award-winning director Davis Guggenheim (“An Inconvenient Truth”) explores the flaws crippling some of America’s schools. Members of various Chicago youth groups were invited to the private screening and MTV News’ Sway Calloway moderated a post-screening talk. In the film, Davis gets into the reasons why many students face not only illiteracy issues but grim futures. Get Schooled is a national organization dedicated to promoting the importance of education and achieving goals like working with schools to increase high school and college graduation rates. The groupmembers in attendance, all of whom said they could relate to the troubling educational experiences depicted in the doc, expressed gratitude that someone was finally tackling the topic onscreen. “I thought the film was really great. It showed the problems in education are big but there are little steps that we can take to start addressing it,” said Royal, a student from the City Year organization. Many of the students echoed that sentiment, saying starting small could make a difference. “Right now, I have to start out small,” Jasmine said. “Helping my little sister and brother … by being a positive mentor for them and getting them in the proper mindset, like, ‘She came from [public schools], she’s doing it, we can do it too.’ ” A public high school dropout, Jasmine fought through the system and now attends college. She insisted that helping her younger siblings is her first step toward helping in a small-scale way. Another startling statistic revealed in the film is that a child who doesn’t finish high school will earn less and be eight times more likely to go to prison. It’s a claim that will no doubt spark more discussion, even heated debate, when the film gets its limited release on Sept 24. Whether you’re a student, graduate, sibling or parent, “Waiting for ‘Superman,’ ” will probably strike a nerve. For filmmaker Davis, the best outcome would be to get the country moving toward a solution, even if it is only one small step at a time. Do you think the American education system needs fixing? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

See the rest here:
MTV And Get Schooled Host ‘Waiting for ‘Superman’ ‘ Screening

Exclusive: Raekwon Talks Justin Bieber Remix With Kanye West

‘I definitely didn’t give him anything that I thought was too hot to be spoken on by a 16-year-old,’ Rae tells MTV News. By Shaheem Reid Raekwon Photo: Getty Images Kanye West’s Twitter spawned one of the most talked-about (and unexpected ) musical collaborations in years — and the song was only finished Wednesday. West and Justin Bieber started talking on Twitter a few days ago about making a remix of the Biebs’ “Runaway Love.” ‘Ye suggested Raekwon get involved, and the next day, the Chef and the Louis Vuitton Don were in New York’s Electric Lady Studios knocking out verses. “Kanye was just being Kanye,” Rae told MTV News about the session. “He was definitely excited. The energy in the room was already speaking for itself. It was time to get up and have fun on the track together. We was drinking, laughing, being normal cats. At the same time, we had a houseful of celebrities in the house as well. [Kanye] was moving through the facility checking out the studios he had. He had three studios in there. “You had Akon in the building. Mos Def was just chillin’. Mos is a good friend of ‘Ye’s,” Rae added. “You had Charlie Wilson, the legendary cat from the Gap Band. Chris Rock walked in. These are guys that really respect who ‘Ye is. ‘Ye’s energy is cool. He’s a normal cat. A normal Chicago/world cat. Very mature. Having a great time.” Rae said his followers on Twitter alerted him that Kanye and JB were talking on their pages about collaborating and had brought his name up. He didn’t hesitate to let them know he wanted in. “This is a conversation that extended from the Twitter thing,” the Staten Island general explained. “Kanye was having a conversation with Justin over the Twitter. They came up with this great idea to have me involved. I was told to check it out and see what they talking about. They was right. They was saying, ‘This is something Kanye and Justin want to do.’ So automatically, first thing I do is hit them back and say I’m with it. Definitely, it created a movement. A lot of people want to see what could be the outcome to this remix. It’s definitely a hot remix.” For the past year, most of Rae’s accolades have been coming via his raw street music, most exemplified by 2009’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II LP. Obviously, Rae didn’t go into the “Pyrex Vision” or “Surgical Gloves” zone with his rhymes for Bieber’s fanbase. “All I did was ride the beat and listen to what he was singing to,” Chef said of his rhymes on the “Runaway Love” remix. “I can go basic when I want to. I can go rated R, I can go rated PG. I definitely didn’t give him anything that I thought was too hot to be spoken on by a 16-year-old. I know how to read beats, and listening to the record, I just complemented. At the end of my 16 [bars], when you do hear Justin coming, it fits and it’s a great sound. I didn’t go crazy. One thing people gotta recognize about me, I’m the Chef. I know how to make spicy food, I know how to make food that ain’t spicy. I made something that fit the criteria. “Me and Kanye are just here to sprinkle a little bit more love on this man’s success and all our success,” he added. Rae didn’t exactly have Bieber Fever before this collabo, but he respects the teen’s work. Chef said he recognized Bieber’s star quality and potential when he saw him perform last year. The MC hasn’t heard an entire Justin album yet, but his kids are big fans. The “Runaway Love” remix has also sparked the opportunity for more Raekwon/ Kanye West collaborations. “We sat down and we talked about it, we talked about doing things in the future. This is just the beginning,” the Wu-Tang co-founder revealed. “This is something that was supposed to happen a long time ago. He started throwing on them tracks, ideas started coming to my head. I was like, ‘If this cat produces a Rae and Ghost record, what could come out of it?’ Every album, he evolves. He’s always doing the extra, or absurd, the abnormal, but it sounds crazy.” Are you excited to hear the “Runaway Love” remix? Let us know in the comments! Related Artists Raekwon Justin Bieber Kanye West

The rest is here:
Exclusive: Raekwon Talks Justin Bieber Remix With Kanye West

Lady Gaga Close To Besting Britney Spears In Twitter Followers

Spears is the world’s top tweeter, but Gaga is hot on her heels. By Mawuse Ziegbe Lady Gaga Photo: Kristian Dowling/ Getty Images Lady Gaga’s near-dominance of all things social media is reaching a pivotal point: Mother Monster is poised to topple Britney Spears as the most-followed Twitter user. According to the social-media website FameCount , which tracks the most popular entities on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, Spears is the world’s top tweeter, with more than 5.6 million followers, but Gaga is right on her heels. As of Thursday afternoon (August 19), Spears’ followers numbered 5,646,028, while Gaga’s online army of “little monsters” was 5,635,460 strong. The ranking could switch very soon, since Gaga has netted around 600,000 new followers this month, while Spears pulled in about 200,000. The site also lists Gaga as the most popular online entity worldwide, with more than 16 million Facebook fans and 330,000 YouTube subscribers. Gaga’s pre-eminent Twitter status is just the latest milestone marking the pop phenom’s powerful viral presence. Last month, Gaga soared past the leader of the free world, President Obama , in Facebook fans. The “Alejandro” singer was also the first living person to notch 10 million fans on the intensely popular social-networking website. Despite runaway online popularity that rivals her chart-topping music sales, Gaga still has to fend off competition from other pop stars. In July, Justin Bieber bested Gaga for the most-watched music video on YouTube with more than 245,746,720 views for the Ludacris-assisted collabo “Baby.” Gaga’s futuristic-disco extravaganza “Bad Romance” was close behind with 245,596,709. Bieber has since widened the gap, however, with “Baby” scoring 292,285,435 views to Gaga’s 264,533,336 YouTube spins at press time. Gaga’s viral presence is undeniable, but the singer’s outsize fan support has yielded results in the form of cold hard cash as well. After circling the globe on her Monster Ball Tour since November of last year, the seat-filling tour is on track to gross $200 million worldwide by April 2011. Are you following Lady Gaga on Twitter? Who are some of your favorite celebrity tweeters? Let us know in the comments below! Related Artists Britney Spears Lady Gaga

See the article here:
Lady Gaga Close To Besting Britney Spears In Twitter Followers

Eminem Talks Retirement, ‘Rapping At 50’

‘Honestly, I don’t know how much longer I have in this game,’ Em tells Vibe. By James Dinh Eminem and Dr. Dre on the cover of Vibe Photo: Vibe After more than a decade in the business, Eminem remains a hip-hop heavyweight, one who can still sell records as if it were the pre-Internet era. So it’s hard to imagine what the music scene would be like if he wasn’t around. Aside from remembering his “8 Mile” co-star Brittany Murphy in Vibe ‘s 15th-anniversary “Juice” issue, Em also opens up about his inevitable retirement from the rap game. “Honestly, I don’t know how much longer I have in this game,” the 37-year-old MC told Vibe. “I’m always going to love hip-hop. But how much longer am I going to still do it? I couldn’t give you an answer. But the day that this is not better than the last will probably be the day I stop.” Despite his love for the game, the Detroit native said that even if he were to continue to get in the studio, he doubts he would release the music as a middle-aged MC. “I do love it so much. But even if I was rapping at 50, I don’t know if I would put it out. I know it always makes me feel better to lay things to tape, and — ‘lay the tape.’ See, I’m old school,” he said. In the August/September issue, Em also proves he can be his own worst critic, calling some of his previous material “mediocre.” But he said that it’s the fans who will ultimately decide his hip-hop fate. “The fans might say the sh– is garbage. You don’t how long people are going to want you around … Realistically, if I don’t rap, what the f— am I going to do? It’s too late to just be unfamous right now at this point,” he admitted. Slim Shady is probably right about it being too late for him to fade into obscurity, but by the looks of things he probably has no reason to worry about losing his fanbase. His latest effort, Recovery, is smashing the competition and it sits atop next week’s Billboard albums chart with sales of 133,000 pushing it past the 2.1 million mark in just eight weeks. How do you think the rap game would hold up without Eminem? Tell us in the comments! Related Photos The Evolution Of: Eminem Related Artists Eminem

Read more:
Eminem Talks Retirement, ‘Rapping At 50’

Behind The Scenes Of Drake And Lil Wayne’s ‘Miss Me’ Video

Clip, which premieres Thursday night on MTV, was shot the day Weezy first heard Drake’s ‘Over.’ By Shaheem Reid Drake and Lil Wayne Photo: the305.com While on the set of Drake’s “Miss Me” video, which premieres Thursday (August 19) at 8 p.m. on MTV, — but he also kept his executive hat on, giving Drizzy the OK to put out “Over” as the first single from Thank Me Later . During a break from shooting the Anthony Mandler-directed video, Wayne and Drake started spitting rhymes to one another in a cipher. “… ’bout to go Thriller, Mike Jackson on these n—as./ All I need’s a f—ing red jacket with some zippers,” Drake rapped, lines that were foreign to Weezy’s ears. “Super good smiddoke, a package of the Swishers./ I did it overnight, it couldn’t happen any quicker./ Y’all know them? Well, f— it, me either./ But point the biggest skeptic out, I’ll make him a believer./ It wouldn’t be the first time I done it, throwin’ hundreds./ When I should be throwin’ ones, bitch, I run it.” Wayne had a huge smile on his face after the verse. “[When they were filming], it was like you could tell they knew they had one,” Weezy’s videographer DJ Scoob Doo, who was shooting scenes for the next installment of his and Wayne’s “Nino Brown” DVD series, . “Wayne was shooting a lot of videos at the time — a lot of videos,” he added. “This one was more of the theme of him speaking from the heart even though all of them were speaking from the heart, this was more of the thing that he kind of like jumped into his mode for real because it made so much sense. [Wayne] wanted people to know how he felt. Like when people see the video, they’re going to really understand how he feels when he’s in [jail]. People are going to feel like he shot it yesterday because he really captured that moment. “Drake made the song and brought it to Wayne,” he continued. “It’s not like Wayne came up with the concept — Drake came up with the concept. So it was also Drake knowing that Wayne would not be here when they shooting this video. It’s like, it’s perfect timing. So this is not by mistake, this is masterminds at work.” Right after the two stopped filming, Drake played “Over” for Wayne for the first time. “Wayne liked it,” Scoob said. “And I think that’s the reason why they went with that single because it’s, like, not a traditional Drake song. At the time where everybody could kind of see him singing and rapping, ‘Over’ was kind of like a more aggressive rapping type of thing for Drake.” The song debuted on Toronto radio about a week later. Related Artists Drake Lil Wayne

See the original post:
Behind The Scenes Of Drake And Lil Wayne’s ‘Miss Me’ Video

Justin Bieber 3-D Movie Is ‘A Story For Our Time,’ Director Says

‘We’re gonna tell the underdog story of where he came from,’ Jon Chu says of the Bieb’s YouTube-fueled success. By Jocelyn Vena Justin Bieber Photo: Frederick Breedon/ Getty Images Valentine’s Day weekend won’t just be lovers in 2011. Devoted Beliebers are counting down to the moment they can check out Justin Bieber’s 3-D movie . Director Jon Chu promises fans will get an in-depth look at what it’s like to be the VMA-nominated singer . “Well, we’re working on it right now. We’ve been touring with him, so we’ve been working on it,” Chu (“Step Up 3D”) told MTV News about the project. “The movie comes out in five months, so we’re deep in it. It’s been fun to get to know Justin. He’s a really cool guy and we’re gonna make a really fun movie.” Those who have yet to be infected with Bieber Fever should take note: This movie is for fans and non-fans alike, according to Chu. “[It’s] a movie for his fans, a movie for people who don’t know him, and we’re gonna tell the underdog story of where he came from,” he explained. “Because it’s a really fascinating story and it has a lot to do with our sort of digital lifestyle now. He was able to do what corporations try to do now when they use YouTube and they don’t even know what to do with it yet. It’s a pretty cool story for our time.” As for the film’s format, Chu explained that it will be a mixture of concert footage and some documentary-style scenes. “There’s not going to be acted-out scenes and I can’t talk about the rest. It’s not your typical concert film and it’s not going to be a biopic … but it is about his life. I think it’s more of a documentary. We’re going to figure it out as we go,” he said. As for how much of it will be in 3-D, he said, “You’ll have to see it. We’re figuring that out now.” Chu had more praise for Bieber, telling us the singer has real staying power, as evidenced by artists like Kanye West seeking him out for collaborations. “He … isn’t a flash in the pan,” Chu said. “He has legitimate talent and I think other artists recognize that.” What part of Justin’s biography do you most want to see played out in 3-D? Tell us in the comments! For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Artists Justin Bieber

Continued here:
Justin Bieber 3-D Movie Is ‘A Story For Our Time,’ Director Says