Young Money MC rocks her hometown with a surprise concert in the middle of New York’s Times Square. By Rob Markman Nicki Minaj performs at Times Square Photo: Theo Wargo/ Getty Images NEW YORK — Good Friday all of a sudden became Pink Friday when Nicki Minaj (and alter ego Roman) took the stage in Times Square to promote her new album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, and the release of the remixed “Starships” video with DJ Doorly. The clip doesn’t hit YouTube until Saturday, but on Friday (April 6), Nicki riled up more than 1,000 fans who gathered to see the reigning rap queen rock an unannounced show, sponsored by Nokia . It was 7:30 p.m. ET when the counter on the stage clock hit zero and the blue curtain revealed the Female Weezy in all her glory. Dressed in a blond wig, white collared shirt and black one-piece with tiger-striped stockings, Nicki set things off properly with her current top-five single “Starships.” Fans threw their hands up and danced, releasing all their anxiety from the hours that they waited. “Who’s in love? Is anybody in love?” the Young Money star asked before launching into her Chris Brown-assisted midtempo “Right By My Side.” There was no Breezy, but Nicki made sure to bring that boom-ba-boom-boom with her when the beat for the infectious “Super Bass” dropped. The Harajuku Barbie danced and rapped, encouraging all her Barbz to sing along. “It’s an honor for me to be here tonight. I’m from New York,” she said before announcing to the crowd that they will be filmed and that the footage will be used in her new “Starships” DJ Doorly remix video. With only three songs performed, the show sure was short, but Nicki made sure everyone had a sweet time. What’s your favorite Nicki Minaj song? Let us know in the comments! Related Artists Nicki Minaj
Following J. Lo’s ‘Dance Again’ video with boyfriend Casper Smart, MTV News looks back at the singer’s habit of enlisting real-life loves for videos. By John Mitchell Jennifer Lopez and Casper Smart in the “Dance Again” music video Photo: Island If Jennifer Lopez ‘s stylish video for “Dance Again” proves anything, it’s that the diva must not be a fan of photo albums. We know what you’re thinking: How did he get that out of J.Lo’s glittery new clip? Well, it’s the only explanation for why she has time and time again recruited her current boyfriend for a video. It’s a trend that dates back 16 years, to her appearance in Diddy’s “Been Around the World.” In the years since, ex-husband Chris Judd, former-fianc
AG Rojas tells MTV News the eye-catching new clip ‘is pretty ridiculous,’ no matter what critics have to say. By James Montgomery Jack White Photo: WireImage Jack White’s brand-new “Sixteen Saltines” video combines all the warm-and-fuzzy sentiments of a Larry Clark production with the nihilistic, general grotesquery of, well, any Harmony Korine picture — only with more auto-erotic asphyxiation, creative drug use, property destruction and flat-out visceral violence tossed in for good measure. Needless to say, it’s pretty amazing. It’s the brainchild of director AG Rojas, who’s made a name for himself in recent years with the similarly gripping, warts-and-all videos he’s directed for the likes of Spiritualized (“Hey Jane”) and Odd Future’s Earl Sweatshirt (“EARL,” aka the clip that probably got Earl sent off to boot camp ). And though those vids strike at the same exposed nerve, none of them have garnered the same kinds of reactions “Saltines” has in the 24 hours since it first premiered, as he told MTV News on Friday (April 6). “I try to pay attention to what people are saying, especially with something like this, because I’m not used to people having any sort of interest in the work I do … it’s usually niche artists,” he laughed. “So I try to see what people think; I mean, it also stems from my natural narcissism too. “Basically, I was working off the energy of the track, and I just wanted to create all these little vignettes about youth,” he continued. “The kids are the only people left on earth and Jack is the last adult, and so because of that, he becomes their enemy. And I wanted to explore the rest of that world, and see what the kids get up to. They just kind of go wild.” They certainly do. Shot outside White’s home of Nashville, in a town called Springfield — “They were super-down to let us just kind of run around and do what we wanted,” Rojas explained — the “Saltines” clip is three minutes of kids running amok. They hold White hostage (and seemingly burn him alive), chug Robitussin, spit, slice, and smash everything in their wake. It’s part bleak suburban nightmare, part post-apocalyptic horror show. And all of it is real. “Everyone’s local … a lot of them, we just found them through street casting,” Rojas said. “There’s one scene with this kid who just had this certain weird charisma, and I asked the production designer to give me some weapons and we went through a warehouse, which was incredibly dangerous, so many holes and nails everywhere. I just told him what to do, and he was just, like, super-stoked to just smash sh–. We like to keep it pretty loose on set, just let everyone have fun.” OK, not all of it is real. Because though the video has already drawn some rather amazing knee-jerk criticism — “Is It Kiddie Porn?” remains our favorite — Rojas wants it to be known that it’s mostly just the product of his fervent imagination and even its most gripping scenes (like the one where kids huff steamed booze through a gas mask) should be taken with a grain of salt. “There was definitely stunt booze, for sure. A lot of the stuff is pretty ridiculous,” he laughed. “Like, you know how espresso machines have the steam wand to do the espresso? I’ve had this idea for a while, and I’ve always wanted to do it where you put some sort of alcoholic liquid in there. It’s such a totally ridiculous idea, like, it would never work, but I always thought it would be funny for kids to try and do weird drugs, just out of desperation.” What do you think of Jack White’s “Sixteen Saltines” video? Tell us in the comments! Related Artists Jack White
‘That’s Bay Area-influenced, but they give it up,’ Forty tells ‘RapFix Live’ of ‘The Motto’ and ‘Rack City.’ By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sway Calloway E-40 and Sway on “RapFix Live” Photo: Natasha Chandel/ MTV News There’s no question that Bay Area artists have set a number of hip-hop trends. From their slang to their sounds, the rap community in Oakland, San Francisco, Vallejo and other surrounding California cities has contributed quite a bit — even if credit is not always given. “Right now, we got ‘The Motto,’ we got ‘Rack City’ — hit records, smash hits,” E-40 said of Drake’s and Tyga’s respective singles when he appeared on Wednesday’s “Across the board, they killin’ ’em. That’s Bay Area-influenced, but they give it up. You know Tyga, Drake, it’s all love.” Tyga’s “Rack City” peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 earlier this year, while Drake’s “The Motto” reached #15. Both songs feature a deep rolling bass line and crisp drum tracks, a beat style popularized by Bay Area artists, including E-40’s “Function” single and LoveRance’s “Up!” Drake, who hails from Toronto, and Tyga, who is from L.A., have credited the Bay with pioneering the sound. Drizzy even shot his video for “The Motto” in front of the Golden Gate Bridge and featured local ambassadors like E-40 and Mistah F.A.B. in the clip. Forty Water is happy to see his hometown getting its sonic just due but also remarks that there is some resistance in the industry to Bay Area artists. That’s why local artists haven’t fully capitalized off of their own ingenuity, he argued. E-40 believes local Bay Area rappers have plenty of songs like “Rack City,” but he takes nothing away from the YMCMB spitter. “No disrespect to Tyga, he doin’ his job. He got the platform; he spit good game on there,” Forty said. “The lyrics got a lot to do with it too, it wasn’t just the beat. The man showed up.” Do you hear the Bay influence in today’s music? Let us know in the comments! Related Videos ‘RapFix Live’ Kicks The Slang With E-40 Related Artists E-40 Tyga Drake
‘What’s draggin’ on the floor is Kanye’s reputation as a man with no empathy for animals,’ PETA tells MTV News in response to Yeezy’s ‘Theraflu.’ By Rob Markman Photo: Theraflu/ Getty Images/ MTV News Not everyone is in love with Kanye West ‘s “Theraflu.” While Yeezy’s fans are fawning over his new track, PETA (or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) took exception to the song’s hook. “Someone tell PETA my mink is draggin’ on the floor,” Kanye spits in the song’s opening bars and then again on the chorus. Well, the animal-rights organization heard the Louis Vuitton Don loud and clear and fired back with a message of their own on Thursday (April 5). “What’s draggin’ on the floor is Kanye’s reputation as a man with no empathy for animals or human beings,” PETA’s senior vice president Dan Mathews said to MTV News in a statement. “He’s a great musician but doesn’t seem to have the fashion sense to design anything more than caveman costumes.” Seems like PETA also caught wind of ‘Ye’s fashion outing in early March when he presented his fall/winter collection during Paris Fashion Week ; the rapper used quite a bit of fur in his women’s line. PETA hasn’t closed the door completely on Kanye, however. They’re still hopeful that he will eventually have a change of heart. “We keep hoping that one day he’ll find his heart and join evolved style icons — including Russell Simmons, Pink and Natalie Portman — who have dropped animal skins,” Mathews said. The MC’s fashion taste isn’t the only topic addressed on “Theraflu.” Kanye touches on his ex-girl Amber Rose, Wiz Khalifa (Rose’s new man), and his feelings for Kim Kardashian. “The whole industry wanna f— ya old chick/ Only n—a I got respect for is Wiz/ And I’ll admit I fell in love with Kim/ Around the same time she had fell in love with him,” Kanye spits over the Hit-Boy-produced beat. He even threw a perceived shot a Kim’s ex-husband and New Jersey Nets star, Kris Humphries: “Lucky I ain’t have Jay drop him from the team.” What do you think of Kanye’s “Theraflu” track? Tell us in the comments! Related Artists Kanye West
In her upcoming ‘Unplugged’ special, airing Sunday at 11 p.m. ET on MTV, Florence Welch gets both personal and passionate. By James Montgomery Florence Welch There are definitely two Florence Welches. One is the quiet, slightly awkward woman you meet backstage, in dressing rooms strewn with flowers and fabrics. In conversation, she’s eternally, empirically British, reserved to the point of distance, whispering and always folding herself inward, as if she’s trying to reach into that formidable set of lungs to find the right words. If it wasn’t for her flame-red hair and striking, alabaster skin, she’d almost disappear into the background. And you get the feeling that she’d probably like to. The other Welch is the one you see onstage: ethereal, epic, seemingly channeling something from another place. There are moments, when she’s really blowing and she opens her eyes wide, that you get the sense even she can’t fathom the power she’s channeling or the places she’s letting it take her. She is a great singer, from a different era — and not just, like, the 1940s. Maybe the 1800s. Or medieval Europe. There would be flowered wreaths involved. The phrase “madrigal” comes to mind. You know. It’s not uncommon for performers to completely transform the minute they step beneath the spotlight; it’s practically a necessity. Singing is, by its very nature, a rather unnatural endeavor, and singing before an audience of people, well, that’s about as much of an out-of-body experience as there is. Going to that other place is less of a coping mechanism as it is a flat-out survival skill, it would seem. But it’s rare that you see two sides of the same person during one performance. Last December, at New York’s Angel Orensanz Center (a perfect venue), was one of those times. Welch was both the damsel and the demigod during her taping of MTV’s “Unplugged,” whispering her way through between-song banter one minute, belting so hard she lifted the rafters the next. Maybe it was the intimate nature of the show — surely having Kanye West sitting 10 feet from you would have an effect of some sort — or perhaps she was summoning the spirit of the place, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a more perfect Florence and the Machine performance. Of course, Florence the Former, being the church mouse she is, summed it up thusly: “It was really wonderful. But what to say in between? I got so bashful. I was so grateful to be there, and I was trying to express that, and it just went into this weird, stilted speech. Singing is fine. Talking, not so much. ” She’s not kidding, either. Before taking on Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness” — which, you’re probably aware, Kanye sampled on the Watch the Throne standout “Otis” — she turned to West and muttered, “This is my favorite song … I think … um, yeah, hopefully it won’t go as well.” Speech is not her strong suit. But singing definitely is. And it’s readily apparent in “Unplugged,” which premieres Sunday at 11 p.m. ET on MTV. From the hushed, chill-inducing “Tenderness” (one of two covers she does; the other is a rather tidy little duet with Josh Homme on “Jackson”) to stirring, stripped-back takes on newer tunes like “Never Let Me Go” and “Only If for the Night” and set-closing hit “Dog Days Are Over,” Welch’s lofty range is on display throughout. And so is that ability to seize emotion from thin air. You will get goose bumps, that much is sure. And yet, that’s usually the case with a Machine performance. But on “Unplugged,” backed by a choir and strings, in a space first consecrated in 1850, it’s all taken to another level (no wonder it’s being released as a standalone album). Even if you weren’t lucky enough to be in the room that night, you get the sense that you’re truly witnessing something special. And when you throw in her fabulously furrowed banter (Welch definitely leads the league in “Ums”), well, then you get the other side of the coin too. Which is what makes it perhaps the definitive Florence set. Or at least the most personal. She truly was made for “Unplugged,” even if half her personality wouldn’t agree with that assessment. Then again, that duality is what makes all the great ones great. Welch never gets down and dirty the way singers like Nina Simone or Etta James did (it’s something you feel in your gut), mostly because it’s not in her wheelhouse. Instead, she floats above it all, goes higher (and subsequently deeper) than you’d think possible. And it’s fitting. After all, on this night, she was singing in a synagogue. And as we know, Welch is most definitely a proper girl. Some of the time, anyway. Don’t miss Florence and the Machine’s “Unplugged” on Sunday at 11 p.m. ET on MTV. Related Videos Unplugged: Florence + The Machine Related Artists Florence + the Machine
Teen couple has a low-key date in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park. By Christina Garibaldi Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber have a picnic at Griffith Park in Los Angeles on Wednesday Photo: Clint Brewer Images/Splash News Justin Bieber continues to prove he is the best “Boyfriend” around. The pop star treated his girlfriend of over a year, Selena Gomez , to a romantic picnic in the park. The teen superstars decided to go for a low-key date, picking up Subway sandwiches and cuddling on a secluded hill in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park. This isn’t the first time the teen super stars’ dates have made headlines. Last year, Bieber rented out Staples Center for a private viewing of “Titanic.” Recently, Bieber revealed his secrets to a successful relationship. “To be a great boyfriend, you just have to have patience,” Bieber told E! News. “You’re always wrong when it comes to girls, you’re always wrong, so just say sorry when things are rough.” Last week, the pair appeared at the Kids’ Choice Awards , where Bieber got slimed after winning the Favorite Male Singer award. Yet, Bieber and Gomez haven’t been able to spend too much time together lately, due to their hectic schedules. Gomez recently returned from St. Petersburg, Florida, where she was busy filming her latest flick, “Spring Breakers,” starring James Franco and Vanessa Hudgens. As for Bieber, he has been hard at work on his next album, Believe, and is enjoying the success of his latest single, “Boyfriend,” which sold an impressive 520,000 downloads in its first week, making it the #2 most-downloaded first-week single. On Tuesday, Bieber treated his fans to another brief teaser of the “Boyfriend” video. In the clip, fans can see Bieber floating underwater and standing in front of a burning tire swing. On Wednesday, Bieber reached out to his fans again, thanking them for their continued support of his new song. “U have all been working so hard 4 the #1 spot on BILLBOARD and so have I,” Bieber tweeted . “We will get it! #BELIEVE – in the meantime THANK YOU! U R AMAZING.” What do you think of Justin and Selena’s picnic date? Let us know in the comments! Related Photos Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez: A Look Back In Photos Related Artists Selena Gomez Justin Bieber
The guys put their signature bad-boy attitude in the spotlight on ‘Chasing the Sun.’ By Jocelyn Vena The Wanted Photo: Steve Thorne/ Redferns The Wanted recently described their new single, “Chasing the Sun,” as being “in the same vein” as their smash “Glad You Came.” Well, the guys didn’t lie. On Thursday (April 5), the guys dropped their latest single off their self-titled U.S. debut, and it’s full of fist-pumping beats and sing-along chants. The club-banger, with its swirling production and booming beat, is a bit more aggressive than “Glad You Came” though. It has more in-your-face moments in terms of the way the song grinds along, corresponding to the fivesome’s signature bad-boy swagger. “We’ve only just begun/ Hypnotized by drums/ Until forever comes/ You’ll find us chasing the sun,” the guys proclaim on the track, written by British rapper and singer Example. They continue, “They said this day wouldn’t come/ We refuse to run/ We’ve only just begun/ You’ll find us chasing the sun.” Where “Glad” focuses on the guys romancing ladies with double entendres and innuendos, “Chasing” seems to be about the guys declaring that no matter what, in love and life, nothing can stop them from going all the way. And yes, the expected sexy moments are still there, as evidenced by lines like, “When the daylight’s fading/ We’re gonna play in the dark/ Until it’s golden again.” The song’s release coincides with their appearance on Thursday night’s “American Idol.” Their U.S. album hits shelves on April 24, and the guys will also appear on an episode of MTV’s “Punk’d” later this season. “To be in the U.S. is amazing,” bandmember Siva Kaneswaran said recently. “But just as long as we go out there and be ourselves and the U.S. takes us as we are, we’re just coming over here to have a laugh.” Related Artists The Wanted
Afrojack, Steve Angello, Avicii and many others set to touch down in Las Vegas for three-day party kicking off June 8. By Akshay Bhansali David Guetta Photo: Larry Marano/ Getty Images What began as a modest event nearly two decades ago in California is now one of the biggest dance music experiences on the planet. Yes, we’re talking about Electric Daisy Carnival , which is gearing up for its return to Sin City on June 8, after a successful move last year to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. And before you book your tickets, MTV News has the exclusive phase-one lineup! According to estimates, a whopping 300,000 carnival-goers (up from 240,000 in 2011) will walk through the gates during this year’s three-day EDC . They can expect to see heavy hitters like Ti
