‘Just to be nominated and have the chance to have one is incredible,’ he tells MTV News. By Kelley L. Carter, with reporting by Kelly Marino J. Cole Photo: C Brandon/ Redferns As confident as J. Cole sounds in his music, he’s not so sure if he’ll take home the Best New Artist trophy at Sunday’s Grammys . When the rapper and Jay-Z prot
LL Cool J will become the second hip-hop artist to host the Grammy Awards on Sunday. By Rob Markman LL Cool J in the mid-1980s Photo: Paul Natkin/ WireImage Box. All it took was a simple three-letter word to jumpstart the illustrious career of a hip-hop legend. LL Cool J was unknown when he made a cameo in the 1985 film “Krush Groove” but it wouldn’t be long before the rap world began buzzing about the 16-year old boy in the baby-blue Kangol. In the flick, which was based off the formative years of seminal hip-hop record label Def Jam, LL walked into an office to showcase his talents for label brass and top talent Run-DMC. After he was denied an audition, the Hollis, Queens MC simply said, “Box,” signaling his entourage to cue the oversized boombox and start the music. It was then that LL began rapping his debut single “I Can’t Live Without My Radio,” an ode to the ghetto blasters that ruled the 1980s. Fast forward 27 years and that cocky kid in the baby-blue bucket hat has conquered every avenue in music, set new benchmarks in Hollywood and is now hosting the 54th Annual Grammy Awards . But LL Cool J (born James Todd Smith) isn’t the first hip-hop artist to host the Grammys. Queen Latifah had the honor before him, but the Grammys didn’t officially start recognizing hip-hop as a legitimate genre until 1989, when DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince’s “Parents Just Don’t Understand” won for the untelevised Best Rap Performance. Hip-hop has certainly come a long way. “When we first started the music, they didn’t even play it on the radio in the daytime,” LL told MTV News in October when he walked the carpet at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards , acknowledging the network for dedicating an entire show to rap music. “Hip-hop was two hours at night or an hour at night on the weekends, and that was it. So to go from an hour or two hours at night to entire award shows and whole generations of people whose lives have been changed just because they’re involved with the music, that’s a big thing.” Just as hip-hop has grown, so has Smith. Back in the 1980s, when he first started his career, many considered rap to only be a passing fad. (MCs who clocked more than three albums in their discographies were thought to be anomalies.) LL has put out 14 albums if you include his two greatest hits LPs, 1996’s All World and 2009’s All World 2. There was his classic 1985 debut Radio and his critically acclaimed 1990 album Mama Said Knock You Out, which spawned the Grammy Award-winning single of the same name. In the mid-1990s, he once again proved his dominance with Mr. Smith and took his hit-making skills into the new millennium with his 2002 single “Luv U Better” off of his 10 album. Check out photos of LL throughout his career! If Uncle L’s music accolades aren’t enough, his strides in Hollywood have surely made him not just a hip-hop icon, but a permanent fixture in American pop culture. He started in “Krush Groove” with a brief cameo playing himself, but quickly followed up with an appearance in Goldie Hawn’s “Wildcats” the next year. Since then, he has starred in major motion pictures like “Deep Blue Sea” with Samuel L. Jackson, “Any Given Sunday” alongside Al Pacino and “S.W.A.T.” with Colin Farrell. LL also held it down in his own television series, “In the House,” and now stars as Special Agent Sam Hanna in the police drama “NCIS: Los Angeles.” It’s been quite a ride for LL Cool J, and when music fans watch him Sunday night at the Grammys, they will surely see a well-accomplished musician, actor and business man, while those who have followed since day one will see that 16-year-old kid in the baby-blue Kangol and say, “Wow, he’s come a long way.” Chaos! Profanity! Wardrobe malfunctions! Don’t miss our Grammy red-carpet live stream this Sunday, February 12, for a full three hours of mayhem, starting at 5 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And the fun doesn’t end Sunday: MTV News has you covered for all the Grammy red-carpet fashion , Grammy winners and Grammy news until the hangover wears off! Related Videos A Guide To The Grammys 2012 Related Photos LL Cool J: From Hollis To Hollywood Related Artists LL Cool J
How will Lady Gaga arrive this year? Join Sway and James Montgomery on the red carpet, starting 5 p.m. Sunday on MTV.com. By Gil Kaufman Jennifer Lopez at the 2000 Grammys Photo: Getty Images What’s the point of getting all dolled up for the Grammy Awards if no one notices your outfit? Since not everyone can earn a nomination or score a performance slot, sometimes you have to make your own news by crashing the red carpet with an eye-popping outfit that is sure to get tongues wagging. It’s anyone’s guess what this year’s attendees will be wearing on Sunday night at the 54th annual awards show, but MTV News will be camped out on the carpet for a full three hours before the festivities kick off and we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for all the outrageous looks and fashions. Click for photos of our most-shocking Grammy red carpet moments! In the meantime, we thought it was worth a look back at some of the legendary entrances from Grammys past: Lady Gaga egg : Sure, Justin Bieber toted his pet snake to last year’s show, but it was, of course, Lady Gaga who turned the most heads by getting carried down the carpet in a giant, see-through egg that she incubated in before emerging later in the night for her performance of “Born This Way.” Britney gets bodied : Britney Spears has long prided herself on wearing what she wants, when she wants. But someone should have pulled her aside in 2010 before she exited the car in an oddball Dolce & Gabbana bodysuit overlaid with a lace dress that turned heads for all the wrong reasons. M.I.A.’s pregnancy chic : With her middle finger firmly tucked into place, the rapper/singer made her way into the 2009 show while nine-months pregnant in a cartoony, ruffled blue maternity dress and matching sneakers. Coldplay play dress up : It was kind of cool when Coldplay stuck with their bold Sgt. Pepper’s-style suits for the whole Viva La Vida tour. But when they wore them to the 2009 show , it just felt … silly. OK Go … back to the drawing board : Viral icons OK Go are experts at drawing attention to their music with trippy, how-did-they-do-that videos. They drew mostly sniggers, though, when they donned matching brocade curtain-looking red-and-gold suits to the 2007 show. Their smartest move may have been to cover their faces with red cloth. R. Kelly, man of mystery : Kels has made a career out of being inscrutable , but his bold sartorial choice at the 2004 Grammys was, well, weird. From the neck down he wore an elegant three-button black suit and tie, but the matching Robin mask? Who knows? Alicia Keys gets funky : Nobody really knows what Keys was thinking in 2002 when she walked the carpet wearing embroidered jeans, sandals, a white tank and a sheer green sari-like shift with a built in, bedazzled headdress. Toni Braxton lets it all hang out : Sometimes it’s what you don’t wear that gets attention. In 2001, singer Braxton sported a barely-there white “dress” that hardly covered her assets with strips of material that dangled in the front and back. Jennifer Lopez’s plunging neckline : Way before she was an “American Idol” judge, Lopez sent hearts racing in 2000 with her instantly infamous plunging neckline Versace gown. Chaos! Profanity! Wardrobe malfunctions! Don’t miss our Grammy red-carpet live stream this Sunday, February 12, for a full three hours of mayhem, starting at 5 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And the fun doesn’t end Sunday: MTV News has you covered for all the Grammy red-carpet fashion , Grammy winners and Grammy news until the hangover wears off! Related Videos A Guide To The Grammys 2012 Related Photos 2012 Grammy Rehearsals 2012 Grammy Performers 2012 Grammy Nominees 2012 Grammy Awards Pre-Parties Related Artists Lady Gaga Jennifer Lopez M.I.A.
‘I’m just trying to make good music,’ Drake tells MTV News about his own positioning on the upcoming ‘Hottest MCs in the Game’ list. By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sam Hendrick Drake Photo: MTV News Picking the “Hottest MCs in the Game” is no easy task — just ask Drake . Granted, the OVO boss was a bit unprepared for the question when he walked the carpet at the Bing Bar during his trip to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, but Drizzy came up with some favorites. ” Rick Ross , obviously, #1,” Drake told MTV News last month before he continued to rattle off more names as they popped into his head. “J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar.” Want to Join the debate? Hit us on Twitter using the hashtag #HottestMC! Drizzy places bars at a premium, and though it took a few seconds, he name-dropped one of his favorite MCs, calling out an early Wu-Tang Clan affiliate La the Darkman. “Crazy, though, amazing, amazing bars on that,” Drake said without naming a specific La mixtape or body of work. The Take Care MC acknowledged Jay-Z and Kanye’s Watch the Throne, as well as Meek Mill and the entire Maybach Music Group. However, he did fail to name his Young Money boss Lil Wayne — though we’re sure it was merely an oversight. When asked to determine what his own positioning on the “Hottest MCs in the Game” list should be, Drake took a very humble road: “Whatever it is, I’m just here, I’m just trying to make good music.” Tune in to MTV2 on Sunday, February 19, at 10 p.m. ET/PT to catch ” MTV2 Presents: Yo! MTV Raps Classic Cuts ,” then watch “Hottest MCs in the Game VII” immediately after at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT before capping the night off with ” Sucker Free Certified ” at 11 p.m. ET/PT. Related Videos Hottest MCs In The Game VII Is Coming Related Artists Rick Ross Drake
Rapper also looks back on his own past Grammy wins and says he’s ‘coming right back at ’em soon.’ By Kelley L. Carter Nicki Minaj Photo: D. Dipasupil/FilmMagic Ludacris knows how good it feels to win a Grammy. The Atlanta-based rapper has three in his collection, and he’s hoping his eighth studio album, Ludaversal, brings him a few more. No release date has been set, but it’s expected sometime this year. Luda won his first Grammy for his collaboration with Usher for 2004’s contagious single “Yeah.” “Man, it was a great feeling. I’m happy to be working with Usher again on the Ludaversal album so we can come back and win yet another Grammy,” Luda told MTV News on Thursday. “My best Grammy experience was winning Best Rap Album for Release Therapy (which was released in 2006). I worked hard on that album specifically to win a Grammy, and I accomplished my goal. So no words can explain how great that felt. But we’re coming right back at ’em soon.” His pick for Sunday night is clear: He wants to see Nicki Minaj to win Best New Artist. He worked with the MC on 2010’s “My Chick Bad,” off his Battle of the Sexes album. “I’m looking forward to seeing Nicki Minaj. I love her. I’m glad I got a chance to work with her. I’m extremely proud of her,” he said. “She’s just scratching the surface of what she’s capable of. So Nicki: keep doing your thing, girl.” Should Nicki Minaj win Best New Artist? Leave your comment below! Chaos! Profanity! Wardrobe malfunctions! Don’t miss Sway and James Montgomery live from the Grammys red carpet this Sunday, February 12, for a full three hours of mayhem, starting at 5 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And the fun doesn’t end Sunday: MTV News has you covered until the Grammy hangover wears off! Related Photos 2012 Grammy Awards Pre-Parties 2012 Grammy Performers 2012 Grammy Rehearsals Related Artists Nicki Minaj Ludacris
MTV News sought out experts (and the slightly uninformed) to get predictions for Sunday’s Grammy Awards. By James Montgomery Photo: Getty Images/ MTV News Ever since the nominees for the 54th Grammy Awards were announced late last year, we’ve asked everyone from Vegas-tested professionals to cubicle-dwelling amateurs to predict just who will take home the golden gramophones during Sunday’s big show. And basically, they keep telling us the same thing: Adele is just going to win everything. And they’re probably right. After all, her 21 album is an unstoppable juggernaut, selling more than 6 million copies in less than a year, spawning two massive singles and almost singlehandedly keeping the industry afloat during dour times. So, yeah, we feel pretty comfortable referring to her as “the favorite.” Still, it’s not as if Adele’s Grammy-night triumph is a sure thing (not entirely anyway): In three of the so-called “Big Four” categories — Album, Record and Song of the Year — she’ll face stiff challenges from the likes of Mumford & Sons, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Kanye West, to name just a few. In the other “Big Four” category (Best New Artist), she’s not nominated — mostly because she won it in 2009. So with music’s biggest night just around the corner, here’s a refresher on just who our expert oddsmakers — and resident awards-show expert (uh, me ) picked to win at the 54th Grammys: Record of the Year Not surprisingly, the U.K.-based oddsmakers at Ladbrokes like Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” here, installing it as the favorite at 2/1 odds. Mumford & Sons’ “The Cave” was next, at 9/4 odds, followed by Bruno Mars’ “Grenade” at 4/1. I decided to go out on a limb and predict Bon Iver’s “Holocene” would build on Arcade Fire’s unlikely Album of the Year win at last year’s Grammys and shock everyone by winning ROTY. Who’s right? Well, probably the pros, but we’ll just have to wait until Sunday to know for sure. Song of the Year Ladbrokes once again goes for Adele, giving “Rolling in the Deep” 1/1 odds to win. Kanye West’s “All of the Lights” is next at 2/1, followed by Mumford & Sons’ “The Cave” at 5/1. Me? I’m taking “Deep” too — mostly because it was the year’s biggest track, and one look back at previous SOTY winners (“Rehab,” “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” etc.) shows you which way this category tends to go. Album of the Year Ladbrokes has Adele’s 21 as the slight favorite here, giving the disc 11/8 odds. Close behind are Bruno Mars’ Doo Wops & Hooligans and the Foo Fighters’ Wasting Light, each of whom got 3/1 odds. I also picked 21 to win, but unlike the betting Brits, I didn’t think this one would even be close. Best New Artist Absent of Adele, BNA may very well be the night’s most-competitive category. Ladbrokes certainly seems to agree with that sentiment, as they’ve installed Nicki Minaj as the slight favorite (6/4 odds), but also kept the Band Perry (9/4), Bon Iver (4/1) and J. Cole (5/1) within striking distance. As for me, I took Minaj too, though I’m not sure how confident I feel about it now. I could certainly see the Band Perry winning instead, though my gut tells me that perhaps it’ll be Bon Iver who takes this one home — we’ll just have to wait until Sunday to see. Chaos! Profanity! Wardrobe malfunctions! Don’t miss Sway and James Montgomery live from the Grammys red carpet this Sunday, February 12, for a full three hours of mayhem, starting at 5 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And the fun doesn’t end Sunday: MTV News has you covered until the Grammy hangover wears off! Related Videos A Guide To The Grammys 2012 Related Photos 2012 Grammy Awards Pre-Parties 2012 Grammy Performers 2012 Grammy Nominees Related Artists Adele Katy Perry Nicki Minaj
Legendary producer Clive Davis agrees, calling this ‘the year of Adele.’ By Kelley L. Carter Adele Photo: Jon Furniss/ WireImage No doubt about it, it’s been the year of Adele . And when one of music’s most respected figures says it, you can’t help but agree. Legendary record producer and music executive Clive Davis sat and talked with R&B singers Brandy and Monica on Thursday, and they were all on the same page when it came to who they wanted to see take home the big prizes at the Grammy Awards on Sunday night. They’re fans of Rihanna, but they’d love British singer Adele to win the Grammy for Album of the Year . Both singers are up for the big prize, along with Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and the Foo Fighters. “You know, it’s so hard because to me you can’t really choose one person when you know about both of their journeys. Rihanna is somebody I love because she’s OK with self. That’s something that’s always been resonated through her and her music,” Monica said. “I play ‘You Da One’ all day. When I think about my husband I play ‘You Da One.’ “But Adele’s voice is so amazingly beautiful,” Monica continued. “And the fact that she embodies the soul that you [talking to mentor Davis] used to tell me in the early ’90s not to be afraid of … He used to say, ‘Sing it big, sing it strong.’ Looking at her, she does that every time she hits the stage.” Davis added that Adele brings back that old soul, and he appreciates her big voice and style of music. “All the nominees — it’s a worthy thing to get nominated, but this has been the year of Adele,” Davis said. “No disrespect to any other nominee. In this era where there is perhaps too much electronica and dance music … I love it. It’s inventive, but it should not be the totality of what is exposed. She has just come back with pure music. Just throwing her head back and singing out with full voice, but songs that resonate as well.” Davis continued, saying, “It’s been an incredible impact on music and worthy of being singled out, as I’m sure it will be.” As for Brandy, she’s tossing her support behind the singer that her daughter Sy’rai adores. Naturally, it’s Adele. “My daughter is in love with Adele. She listens to her every day,” Brandy said. “To see someone with that much passion and soul move a 9-year-old is amazing and it’s magical.” Chaos! Profanity! Wardrobe malfunctions! Don’t miss Sway and James Montgomery live from the Grammys red carpet this Sunday, February 12, for a full three hours of mayhem, starting at 5 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And the fun doesn’t end Sunday: MTV News has you covered until the Grammy hangover wears off! Related Videos A Guide To The Grammys 2012 Related Photos 2012 Grammy Awards Pre-Parties Related Artists Adele Monica Brandy
Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland say the new mom looks ‘amazing’ and that Blue Ivy is ‘beautiful.’ By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Kelly Marino Beyonce at the 40 / 40 Club in New York City Photo: Kevin Mazur/ Getty Images Earlier this week, new mom Beyonc
Katy Perry, Bon Iver, Bruno Mars and Mumford & Sons are also competing for the prestigious award. By Gil Kaufman Adele, Bruno Mars and Katy Perry Photo: Getty Images Every year has one: a runaway Grammy nominee who sweeps through the top categories and appears to be the juggernaut to beat. This year is no different. While Kanye West is the top nominee with seven nods, Adele is close behind with six nods, including bids in all of the top categories. And while we won’t know whose name will be called until Sunday night’s show, a look at the Record of the Year race is a fine example of why the British songbird might need some help packing her hardware up for the trip back home. Unless you spent time on another planet this year, and even if you did, chances are you heard Adele’s breakthrough hit, “Rolling in the Deep” a dozen or (many) more times. The stirring soul pop gem was the perfect showcase for the singer’s powerful, richly textured voice, and its ebb-and-flow dynamic packed a relationship’s worth of drama into 3:48. In addition to selling nearly 6 million copies of her album, 21, she also moved nearly 6 million copies of the “Deep” single, earning credit for helping to (slightly) pull the long-moribund U.S. record business out of a decade-long slump. But she has some formidable opponents in the Record of the Year race, one of the most prestigious awards handed out, which frequently honors the year’s most successful or notable songs. That might explain how Best New Artist nominee Bon Iver got into the mix with the ethereal “Holocene.” Leader Justin Vernon broke through to the mainstream in 2011 thanks to his own folk-and-AutoTuned compositions, as well as work with West. If “Rolling in the Deep” was inescapable, then Mumford & Sons ‘ “The Cave” was just a few notches below ubiquitous, but still all over the place. The banjo-picking, foot-stomping ditty from the English folk revivalists helped cement their status as a force to be reckoned with, while serving as a nice follow-up to their salty breakthrough, “Little Lion Man.” It also helped keep their multi-platinum debut, Sigh No More, a fixture on the Billboard 200 and iTunes charts throughout the year. Somewhere in between were two huge hits for Katy Perry and Bruno Mars that put a stranglehold on pop radio for much of the spring and summer. Perry’s inspiring “Firework” helped the singer reach elite company on the Billboard charts on her way to landing six top-five hits from a single album , not to mention empowering her young fans to embrace their unique identities. Any way you slice it, it was also a huge year for Mars, who also garnered six Grammy noms for his Doo-Wops & Hooligans debut as well as his producing/songwriting work on songs by other artists. But it was the sweat and toil he put into the endless love tune “Grenade” that made all that hard work pay off. “[We] worked extremely hard on ‘Grenade.’ That was the hardest song on the whole album to finish because we knew we had something, and to get all that emotion out,” Mars told MTV News in December. “I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we’re really happy that that song is being recognized because that’s like our trophy song.” Chaos! Profanity! Wardrobe malfunctions! Don’t miss Sway and James Montgomery live from the Grammys red carpet this Sunday, February 12, for a full three hours of mayhem, starting at 5 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And the fun doesn’t end Sunday: MTV News has you covered until the Grammy hangover wears off! Related Videos A Guide To The Grammys 2012 Adele’s ‘Magical’ Road To Success Related Photos 2012 Grammy Performers MTV Act | 2012 Grammy Nominees Who Give Back
Sharing stage with Beach Boys and Maroon 5 for Sunday’s Grammys ‘icing on the cake’ in breakthrough year, frontman tells MTV News. By James Montgomery Mark Foster of Foster The People Photo: Getty Images LOS ANGELES — Foster the People don’t want to reveal too much about their performance at Sunday’s 54th Grammy Awards , where they’ll share the stage with the surviving members of the Beach Boys (together for the first time in more than 20 years) and Maroon 5. But they will tell you what song they won’t be playing: their signature hit, “Pumped Up Kicks.” “I think my head would explode if [the Beach Boys] were playing ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ with us,” frontman Mark Foster told MTV News during Grammy rehearsals Thursday. “I would probably have to say ‘No, no, no. That’s unacceptable.’ No, we’re going to be playing with them. ” Both FTP and Maroon 5 will honor the reunited Boys — Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and early member David Marks — by singing a medley of their classics, before teaming up with the surf (and psych) legends for a triumphant final take on the seminal “Good Vibrations.” And though all three bands have been rehearsing the performance for two days now, Foster is still having a difficult time believing it’s actually happening. “We walked into the rehearsal room and met all of the Beach Boys for the first time yesterday, and it was a trip for all of us,” he said. “We grew up listening to their music since we were little kids — I probably wouldn’t be in music today if it wasn’t for them. So, to see them all in the same room together, and then playing with them, it’s wild. It’s a dream come true.” So much so that, in a year that saw FTP not only score a certified smash with “Kicks,” but tour the world and earn a pair of Grammy nominations, Sunday’s performance unquestionably will be the highlight of their young career. “I think out of everything we’ve done so far, this is the top for us. This is the icing on the cake,” Foster explained. “We were talking about it yesterday: Exactly a year ago, we were playing in front of 250 people in L.A., and so much has changed since then. It’s all kind of a blur looking back on it, but we were reflecting on it yesterday … our album came out five, six months ago, and now we’re playing with the Beach Boys at the Grammys. Things have changed pretty quickly.” So, win or lose on Grammy night (and, for the record, Foster seems to think his band is going to get creamed in both the Best Alternative Music Album and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance categories), Foster the People are going to be just fine. After all, they’re playing with the freaking Beach Boys. And it doesn’t get much better than that. “I think people that are tuning in are going to see a piece of history. This is the first time the Beach Boys have played together in over 20 years,” Foster said. “They’re one of the best bands of all time. Brian Wilson has left such a mark on musical history, to be able to see him up there with the other guys doing what they do, it’s amazing.” Chaos! Profanity! Wardrobe malfunctions! Don’t miss Sway and James Montgomery live from the Grammys red carpet this Sunday, February 12, for a full three hours of mayhem, starting at 5 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And the fun doesn’t end Sunday: MTV News has you covered until the Grammy hangover wears off! Related Videos A Guide To The Grammys 2012 Related Artists Foster the People
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