Rookie MC steps out of Kanye’s shadow with smash Finally Famous album, landing him on MTV News’ Hottest MCs in the Game. By MTV News staff Big Sean Photo: Getty Images The biggest part of Big Sean ‘s rise over the past year has been the unwavering support of his fans. While he’s signed to a major label (Def Jam) and one of the brightest stars on Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music imprint, it was those fans mobbing him at the Adidas store in New York and superstar supporters like Chris Brown and Nicki Minaj hopping on his debut album, Finally Famous, that propelled Sean to #9 on MTV News’ Hottest MCs in the Game VII — his first appearance on the list. Big Sean hit the scene out of Detroit’s west side as Kanye’s newest prot
‘I’ve been writing this story for a long time,’ rapper tells Ryan Seacrest of her alter ego Roman Zolanski. By Jocelyn Vena Nicki Minaj performs at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images Nicki Minaj nearly stole the show at the 2012 Grammy Awards when she performed her frenetic Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded track, “Roman Holiday.” Rife with religious symbolism, the performance welcomed her alter-ego Roman Zolanski to the Grammy stage for the first time. On Monday (February 13), Minaj called into Ryan Seacrest’s radio show to give her take on the red-hot performance. “Well, [that religious character I walked the carpet with] is a major part of the story and the movie that I’m writing about one of my alter egos; his name is Roman,” she said. “Basically, the religious figure is there because he was called on by Roman’s mom [Martha] to rehabilitate him. I wasn’t going to do the red carpet, so you know I was backstage prepared … my people wanted me to do it. I had this amazing robe made for me by Versace sent from Milan and I said, ‘I have to wear this.’ They were so generous, and I was going to originally wear it in the performance, but then when I got it, it was a little heavy for the performance. “I had this vision for Roman. I had this vision for him to be sort of exorcised … people around tell him he’s not good enough because he’s not normal. So his mother is scared and the people around him are afraid. He wanted to show that not only is he amazing, but he’s never going to be exorcised, even when they throw holy water on him, he still rises above.” In fact, when MTV News caught up with Minaj in late 2011, she shared the origins of this particular plotline. “Well, he was there [in Moscow] secretly because [alter ego] Martha wanted him to go there,” she said. “So they put him in this thing with monks and nuns; they were trying to rehabilitate him.” Minaj told Seacrest that she feels the performance, choreographed by Laurieann Gibson and directed by Hype Williams, was a success. “It’s funny because it was the most comfortable I’ve been in my entire life,” she said. “The Grammys chose ‘Roman Holiday.’ They heard ‘Roman Holiday’ and I could not play them another record after that. I have to stay true to what I’m doing … my fanbase, they understand every single thing. Roman was created two years ago. I’ve been writing the story for a long time and yesterday was his coming-out party. It just was very literal and streamlined if you know who Roman is and if you don’t know the Roman character, you have to digest it. While she has no plans to recreate that Grammy performance, she has made it clear several times to MTV News that this April will kick off the era of Roman. In a previous interview with Minaj, she explained that Roman is definitely her favorite alter-ego. “[He’s] bad. That’s why I like Roman,” she said. “I think I started liking Roman more because everybody else starting like Roman, so he became my favorite. People are expecting him to do some real craziness on the next album.” The over-the-top spectacle was, in part, inspired by her Super Bowl performance with Madonna. “Meeting Madonna changed my life. This performance was it, and this is the first performance I’m proud of in my whole life. Madonna was the first person in history who was able to make me change my wig,” she said of the Queen of Pop’s undeniable influence over her. “When you see her vision, it’s like, ‘Oh, OK. If someone this talented and this rich is still giving it this much [then I should too].’ ” And, she explained that she cares so much for Madge as an artist that she felt “disappointment” over M.I.A.’s headline-grabbing middle finger salute . “Even though I’m a coo-coo lady too, I would never be able to do it off the strength of Madonna,” she said. “We’re kind of all firecrackers.” What did you think of Nicki’s alter ego Roman? Leave your comment below! Related Videos 2012 Grammy Awards Show Highlights Related Photos 2012 Grammy Awards: After Parties 2012 Grammy Awards: Backstage And Audience 2012 Grammy Awards: Main Show 2012 Grammy Awards: Press Room 2012 Grammys Red Carpet Photos Related Artists Nicki Minaj
‘I Will Always Love You’ is the #1 song on iTunes, and the pop legend is likely to re-enter Billboard top 10. By John Mitchell Whitney Houston Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage Sales of Whitney Houston ‘s albums and singles have soared since news of her death arrived late Saturday afternoon, so much so that the late pop superstar’s 2000 hits package, Whitney: The Greatest Hits, is expected to re-enter the album charts this week in the top 10. Billboard is projecting that Houston’s Hits package likely moved 50,000 copies in the day-and-a-half window between when news of her death was first reported and the close of Nielsen SoundScan’s business week. “In terms of sales impact, it won’t quite be like Michael Jackson, but it will be big,” Billboard ‘s associate director of charts Keith Caulfield told MTV News of the spike in sales for Houston’s albums and songs. “Most big pop stars have a perfect great hits and Whitney doesn’t, and that could factor into how the sales play out. I do think her track sales are going to be really big.” Houston released only one greatest hits package in the U.S., and it has been the album fans have turned to since her passing. It is, however, considered “a flawed greatest hits to a lot of people,” Caulfield said. “Half of it is remixes of her dance songs, so it’s not the familiar version of ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody.’ It’s not the perfect greatest hits package for fans to turn to, so I don’t think it’s going to sell as well [as Jackson’s].” A look at the iTunes song and album charts reveals that Houston’s back catalog is indeed in demand: The singer currently has 28 tracks on the iTunes top 100 sellers list, including the #1 song (“I Will Always Love You”), and her 2000 hits package is the #2 album, trailing only Adele’s 21, which is itself experiencing a post-Grammy surge. Only one of Houston’s six studio albums (2002’s Just Whitney ) is not currently charting on the iTunes top 100 albums chart. The three soundtrack albums (“The Bodyguard,” “The Preacher’s Wife” and “Waiting to Exhale”) that feature her prominently, however, do appear. Seven of the top 10 titles on Amazon’s album chart also belong to Houston. It is, of course, not uncommon for a musician’s records to re-emerge on the charts in the wake of a tragic passing. Last summer, Amy Winehouse’s two albums , Frank and Back to Black, both leapt back onto the charts after the star’s death. Back to Black even reappeared in the Billboard 200 top 10 for several weeks, and sales of her most popular singles surged, with more than 111,000 digital track sales rung up in just the first week after her passing. The previous week, Winehouse had moved 5,000 downloads. However, nothing compares to the massive sales spike experienced after Michael Jackson’s death. Jackson died on June 25, 2009, and in the six months that followed, his back catalog moved 11 million digital downloads and 8 million albums. Two years later, those numbers had increased to 16.3 million downloads and 10.6 million albums, respectively, according to Billboard. Etta James also recently saw a sales surge following her passing from leukemia and other ailments. How long Houston’s albums will continue to play strongly on the charts remains to be seen, and Caulfield noted that Jackson’s massive posthumous sales had a great deal to do with the iconic nature of his earlier works and the “well-curated” hits packages that were released during his lifetime. “Michael had a couple of albums that were de facto greatest hits album, like Thriller, Bad or Off The Wall . They were self-contained greatest hits albums, in a way. Whitney’s earlier albums are much the same but they don’t have that iconic status,” Caulfield told MTV News. “Being the biggest-selling album of all time has a certain impact that, no matter how many hits [another album] has, it’s not on the same level on a global scale.” “The second thing, Michael had the #1s album, which was a very easy, obvious choice for people to purchase because it had all the big hits, or you had The Essential Michael Jackson, which had all that and more. There was even a box set,” Caulfield added. “There was a wealth of well-curated greatest hits albums for casual fans of Michael to purchase, and Whitney doesn’t have that.” Share your condolences with Whitney’s family and friends on our Facebook page. Related Videos Whitney Houston: Life And Music Of An Icon Related Photos Whitney Houston’s Music Video Style Remembered Whitney Houston: A Life In Photos Related Artists Whitney Houston
U.K. boy band wrapped their first-ever U.S. tour Wednesday night in L.A. By Jocelyn Vena Justin Bieber Photo: Getty Images The Wanted landed on U.S. shores last month for their first-ever tour here in America, and what ensued was Beatlemania-like fandom. On Wednesday night, the U.K. boy band wrapped up the trek in L.A., and fans (including the Beckham family) came out in full force when they took the stage at the El Rey. The five Brits couldn’t believe the enthusiasm felt by the crowd, tweeting that the excitement for them was “unbelievable.” Even though the tour is over, the interest in the guys has hardly waned. Their song “Glad You Came” (from their 2011 album Battleground ) will be featured on “Glee” this season and continues to climb the charts and gain radio play. The guys are prepared for all the attention: Touring with Justin Bieber has shown them what it’s like to become an international pop sensation. So what kind of advice has the Biebs given them? “I think he’s too humble for that, in that way. … He’s not someone that really gives advice, because I think he just appreciates what happens to him rather than thinks he’s God,” Max George told MTV News. “And so, I mean, we don’t really talk music. When we speak to him, it’s more we talk about football or basketball.” Bandmate Jay McGuiness added: “I think he knows that we know how to do what we want to do in the same way that we could never tell him how to do what he does, ’cause he does it a lot better than we ever could.” The Wanted will head back home to their native U.K. to kick off an arena tour that will run through March. They are also up for Best British Single at the Brit Awards this month for “Glad.” Have you been following the Wanted’s burgeoning career? Let us know in the comments! Related Artists The Wanted Justin Bieber
MTV News takes a look at the history of Album of the Year nominee Doo-Wops & Hooligans. By Jocelyn Vena Bruno Mars Photo: Redferns Bruno Mars showed he was more than just B.o.B and Travie McCoy’s hook guy when he dropped Doo-Wops & Hooligans back in October 2010 — and he’s got an Album of the Year nomination at Sunday’s Grammys to prove it. With an ear for vintage-sounding details and a love for a good melody, Mars unleashed an album that would spawn megahits and make the Hawaii native (and former Elvis Presley impersonator) a household name, not to mention the go-to guy for the likes of hip-hop legends Eminem and Lil Wayne. For the smash debut, Mars hooked up with his production team, the Smeezingtons (Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine), as well as A-list talent like songwriter Claude Kelley, producer and collaborator Damian Marley and former Fall Out Boy leading man Patrick Stump. The result: an album that paid homage to Mars’ love of, you guessed it, doo-wop and proved that he has a talent for crafting modern-day pop songs that could connect with a wide-ranging audience. Never forgetting his roots, he also worked with “F— You” collaborator Cee Lo Green and brought B.o.B on the album. “I want the world to fall in love with my music, that’s what I’m doing music for. I want to be able to do shows and have people come and see me do my thing,” Mars explained to MTV News back in 2010 about the album. His wish certainly came true. When it dropped, Doo-Wops & Hooligans debuted at #3 on the Billboard albums chart and has since sold nearly 1.5 million copies. The love didn’t end there: “Just the Way You Are” and “Grenade” topped the charts, and “The Lazy Song” peaked at #4. Mars found a way to keep everyone talking, displaying his creativity not only in song, but also in videos. The clips for those tracks were almost as buzzworthy as the songs themselves. The VMA-nominated video for “Grenade” managed to capture the sadness of the song, with Mars dragging a piano through the streets of Los Angeles only to find that his lady love no longer loves him. “It was my concept,” the singer explained about the video. “I said, ‘I want to drag a piano.’ I got my friend Nabil to come direct it, and it was a risk, because I still hear jokes to this day like, ‘What the hell you doing dragging a piano?’ ” he said. “But it’s my art, so shut up!” He also had everyone buzzing when he dropped his video for “The Lazy Song.” Where “Grenade” relied on heart, the “Lazy” video was all about making everyone laugh. It featured dance crew Poreotics (from “America’s Best Dance Crew”) done up in monkey masks dancing alongside Mars. In fact, it even got a Best Choreography nod at the VMAs . “We worked really hard on it, and we wanted to give people something to laugh at and show personality in the song and what we’re talking about,” he said. ” ‘The Lazy Song’ is not necessarily the song you want to hear in the club, but we put our monkey dance to it.” Now his focus is on trying to take home a shining Grammy statue come February 12. And it’s not just his album the Grammys have recognized, but also his heartbreaking ballad “Grenade,” which is up for three awards at the show including Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. “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,” he explained. “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. “Incredible. We worked really hard,” he added about all the recognition the album has received. “We worked hard in the studio right down the street, actually. And it’s a little tiny shack, but for the two years we were in there, we just locked ourselves in that room and came up with Doo-Wops & Hooligans. ” 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 Bruno Mars
‘He and Rihanna are just friends,’ Brown’s rep tells ABC News of hookup rumors. By Jocelyn Vena Rihanna and Chris Brown Photo: Rick Diamond/WireImage Nearly three years after Chris Brown assaulted then girlfriend Rihanna , rumors have spread that the two have been hooking up for the past year. But Brown’s rep has stoutly denied there is any truth to the gossip. “He and Rihanna are just friends,” his rep tells ABC News . “He is with his girlfriend, Karrueche, and is not cheating.” Sources told US Weekly that the former couple “meet up very casually,” adding, “She comes to see him anytime she’s in L.A.” Other sources say that “they can’t get enough of each other. I don’t see it ending well.” “Rihanna loves to live dangerously,” another source added. “And talking to and hooking up with Chris is all part of that.” While Brown is speaking out against the report, instead of responding to the rumors, Rihanna has been posting a series of vacation photos on her Twitter. In them, she’s seen posing on the beach in her bikini, hanging with her friends on a surfboard and working out on a treadmill. Rihanna has also been focusing on the positive, which includes another week at the top of the charts for her Calvin Harris-produced track, “We Found Love.” She’s also set to perform with Coldplay at the Grammy Awards on February 12. She appears on their Mylo Xyloto track, “Princess of China.” “My friends @ColdPlay and I will be sharing the stage for a performance at this years Annual Grammy Awards!” Rihanna tweeted Wednesday night, later adding, “I’m in a great mood, and I got some GREAT NEWS!!! PRINCESS OF CHINA #GRAMMYS2012.” Do you believe the hook-up rumors? Sound off below! Related Videos MTV News Extended Play: Rihanna MTV News Extended Play: Chris Brown Related Artists Chris Brown Rihanna
Our #5 Newsmaker of 2011 launched a concert film, found his inner rapper and chopped off his famous locks in a boundary-pushing year. By Jocelyn Vena Justin Bieber Photo: Getty Images In the two years since Justin Bieber dropped his debut album, My World, the teen superstar has become one of the biggest forces in pop music and amassed a dedicated legion of Beliebers along the way. A global superstar who can top the box office as well as the charts, it’s hard to remember what pop was like pre-Bieber. Over the course of the year, MTV News watched as the young star continued to climb new career heights, and you were there as we covered every milestone on the way to Justin’s becoming our #5 Top Newsmaker of 2011 . “Fans will be really excited to see that I’m just a regular 16-year-old having fun just living my dream,” he told MTV News in February at the premiere of his 3-D film, “Never Say Never.” “And it’s possible for anyone to live theirs.” Bieber’s determination to dream even bigger was clear this past year. He kicked off 2011 with the release of a concert documentary that brought fans into his world, pre- and post-fame; he followed that up with more music, dropping Never Say Never – The Remixes. By mid-year Bieber was selling out venues on his My World Tour, and at the end of ’11, he was ready to celebrate the holidays with Under the Mistletoe. He also made time to rap for us right in the MTV Newsroom, had teen girls everywhere smelling good with his Someday perfume and made jaws drop by chopping off his famous locks . “We knew it was going to be a big deal,” Bieber’s hairstylist, Vanessa Price, explained. “We knew it was going to shock fans, but we also knew it was going to be a change in terms of growing up. I think that’s something that people adjust to.” This year was also about pushing boundaries for Bieber. He gained street cred by working with the likes of Kanye West, Chris Brown and Busta Rhymes, and when asked how he thought his music would evolve, he explained, “I’m not gonna really limit myself. I think music is music, and genre — I mean, I know there’s country music, there’s rock music, but my music is different. My voice is not meant for any style. I just want to make music.” The Biebs made time for love, too, spending time with girlfriend Selena Gomez at events like awards shows and on lavish date nights. And he had Gomez’s support when a fan made false claims that he had fathered her child . Justin never really seemed to waver though: He shrugged off the allegations and moved on. Bieber already has big plans for 2012. He’s readying his next album, Believe, which he opened up about during his first-ever “MTV First” in October. “I’m trying to create a new sound that people aren’t really used to hearing, so it might sound weird at first, but it’s going to be like when Justin Timberlake did FutureSex/LoveSounds : It was a new sound … acoustic guitar over hard drums,” he explained. “I want to find something that’s going to suit me and my fans are going to love and older people will like and younger people will like. But I’m always trying to keep my core fanbase, because the young people are what make everything cool. Old people look to young people, so trying to keep everyone happy.” MTV continues our Best of 2011 coverage by looking back at the biggest pop-culture stories of the year. As we count down the newsmakers that mattered to you most, also check out our Best Artists , Best Songs , Best MTV Live Performances and Best EDM Artists of 2011. Related Videos MTV First: Justin Bieber
‘This is my last video directed by Chris Brown; we can’t afford it after today,’ Ambition MC tells MTV News. By Rob Markman, with reporting by Vanessa White Wolf Big Sean and Wale Photo: MTV News These days, getting Chris Brown to sing or rap on your song will most likely yield positive gains on the charts. But getting him to direct your music video — who knows what the end result will be? Brown doesn’t have much of a track record behind the lens, but when it came time to choose a director for his and Big Sean ‘s “Slight Work” video, Wale decided to give his chart-topping buddy a shot. “I really wanted to do something special amongst the young guys,” Wale told MTV News while on set in Huntington Park, California, last week. “It means so much to me, as far as the genre goes and the preservation of the genre, for us to keep giving back to each other and keep working with each other and make beautiful music and do important things for our culture.” Brown has long established himself among music’s most prolific artists with his catchy songs, stunning videos and unbelievable dance routines. Breezy has branched out as an actor (2007’s “Stomp the Yard,” “This Christmas” and 2010’s “Takers”), and now he’s branching out even further. “Me reaching out to Chris is bigger than me reaching out to a homeboy, it’s me reaching out to an aspiring director,” Wale explained. “I think a lot of people put a lot of us into one box and don’t know we have other passions. I wasn’t surprised, a guy that creative and that talented, I’m sure he has other things that he wants to do.” Big Sean had much success working with CB on his 2010 #1 Billboard rap single, “My Last,” but when he found out Brown was directing this clip, he scratched his head a bit. “At first I was kinda skeptical,” Sean said. “Then I saw it and was blown away.” Wale is pretty confident in the end result, predicting that after “Slight Work” premieres, Brown will become a sought-after music video director. “My secret weapon is gone,” he joked. “This is my last video directed by Chris Brown; we can’t afford it after today.” How do you think Chris will fare as a music video director? Tell us in the comments! Related Artists Chris Brown Wale Big Sean
‘I haven’t even thought about my third record yet,’ Adele tells Billboard. By Gil Kaufman Adele Photo: Jon Kopaloff/ FilmMagic Everywhere you went in 2011 it seemed like Adele was there. With such hard-to-escape singles as “Rolling in the Deep,” “Someone Like You,” “Rumor Has It” and “Set Fire to the Rain,” she ruled the charts and radio on her way to landing the year’s best-selling album with 21. If she were taking a page from the Rihanna playbook, that would mean that right about now, the British belter would be hard at work on a follow-up to her smash. But, in keeping with the long, slow burn of “Rolling” and her generally less hectic pace, Adele recently told Billboard magazine that she’s taking her time with album #3. Still unable to speak after recent surgery to remove a benign polyp from her throat, the six-time Grammy nominee emailed the magazine that she’s looking forward to some “do nothing” time in the near future. “I imagine I’ll be 25 or 26 by the time my next record comes out, as I haven’t even thought about my third record yet,” said Adele, who is 23. “I’m just gonna lay some concrete, set up home and just ‘be’ for a bit. I’ll disappear and come back with a record when it’s good enough. There will be no new music until it’s good enough and until I’m ready.” She’s had plenty of time to do the latter, given that she canceled all remaining 2011 dates in October to rest her voice and recover from the surgery. The good news is, the surgery went really well and, while it may take a bit of time to build her chops back up, going forward, it will be much easier to sing than before, she said. “And mentally, I won’t be worried about my voice onstage anymore,” she said, speculating that by February — the Grammys are February 12 — she’ll be ready to sing again. Explaining that she was inspired by late British siren Amy Winehouse’s self-created artistic method, Adele said she sees no upside to having a specific, market-tested plan as an artist. “Who f—ing cares if people don’t get it or don’t like it? I’d rather trust myself, to like what I’ve done and stick to my guns than make music I don’t like, wear clothes that don’t suit me and flutter between genres because I’m scared I won’t be relevant if I pass my ‘sell by’ date,” she said. “Amy tattooed that in me! She made music because she was good at it and wanted to. And she was a huge artist who was always a bigger fan. That’s why I gravitated towards her and listened when she sang and spoke.” She’s also careful about overexposure and not taking every opportunity to hawk 21 just to move a few more units. “If I did everything, my artistry and music would become diluted,” she said. “Performances and interviews travel globally and instantly nowadays because of YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and blogs. I’d be repeating myself and be overexposed if I did every TV and every magazine cover I was given the opportunity to do.” Refreshingly, she also admitted that “my career isn’t my life,” saying she leaves work at the door when she comes home and has stuck with her same group of friends and advisers, from obscurity to worldwide fame. “Of course I’m bowled over by people’s response to 21, and when I meet artists I love, it blows my mind,” she said. “But it baffles me as well. I go home and my best friend laughs at me, rather than going to a celebrity-studded party to rub shoulders with people who know me but who I don’t know. I’m Z-list when it comes to that sh–.” MTV is also celebrating the Best of 2011 , so tune in all next week to see our panel of experts count down the top EDM artist of the year as well as best overall song and artist of 2011. Adele is also in the running for the Best MTV Live Performance of 2011 . Are you voting for Adele for the best live performance of the year? Let us know in the comments below! Check out the nominees, watch show highlights and vote for the Best MTV Live Performance of 2011 . Stay tuned for the results on Tuesday, December 13, at 4:59 p.m. ET on MTV and MTV.com! Related Artists Adele
Rihanna’s “We Found Love” is burning up the charts, so it made sense that she performed during the announcement of the 2012 Grammy nominations on CBS. Her performance was beamed in from a London’s O2 arena, where she showed no signs of fatigue despite reports that she’s burned out and may take a year off . “#GRAMMYS2012 5 nominations!!!” Rihanna Tweeted excitedly. “This year keeps getting better and better!#LOUD up 4 Album of the year is so #MAJAH.” In addition to Album of the Year, the 25-year-old Barbadian beauty is nominated for Best Rap collaboration, Best Pop Vocal Album and Song of the Year. Watch her performance on last night’s broadcast below: Rihanna – We Found Love (Grammy Nominations Special)
Breaking Sports Video
