It has been a long time coming for artists like J. Cole and Big Sean. After hustling hard for some time, both artists have successfully put out their first album. Cole and Sean are affiliated with “The Throne[Jay-Z and Kanye West]” and that’s a tough act to follow. J. Cole’s Cole World was finally released yesterday with massive support and media coverage most artists pray for. Sean weighed in on Cole’s new release telling Rap-Up TV : “I illegally downloaded it and then I bought it today. I think it’s pretty good. I think he did his thing. I know it took a long while, so that’s the best thing when it’s slow cooked.” Click here for the full story over at Rap-Up.com Top 7 Reasons To Buy J.Cole’s “Sideline Story” Music Charts Decoded: Big Week For Big Sean!; Drake, J. Cole And Beyonce Gain Momentum J. Cole On Rihanna Sex Tape, RocNation Rumors & Being Called “The Rapist” [VIDEO] Big Sean Talks To DJ Drama About Arrest, “Oh My” Remix & More [EXCLUSIVE] Big Sean On The Road To “Finally Famous,” Drake & More [EXCLUSIVE] J. Cole – Cole World, Album Listening Suite [LISTEN]
Bad Meets Evil’s ‘Lighters,’ featuring Bruno Mars, ekes past ‘I Wanna Go’ in MTV News poll. By John Mitchell Royce Da 5’9″ and Eminem Photo: MTV News It was a contentious showdown, but after many lead changes, Bad Meets Evil’s “Lighters,” featuring Bruno Mars, bested Britney Spears’ “I Wanna Go” to take MTV News’ Song of Summer crown. Nearly a half-million votes were cast, though a vast majority (327,679) of those were split almost evenly between Royce Da 5’9″ and Eminem’s joint project and Spears. Fan groups rallied behind their respective favorites, leading to a lot of back-and-forth over the past few days, but “Lighters” ultimately came out ahead when polls closed earlier Wednesday (September 7), taking 38.2 percent of the tally with 167,202 votes. The track has turned into a summer sleeper hit for Em, Royce and Mars. It is currently holding strong at #4, its peak position so far, on the Billboard Hot 100, 11 weeks after debuting on the chart. Spears’ “I Wanna Go” — the third Billboard top 10 hit from Femme Fatale — trailed with just over 36.6 percent. If Spears is less than pleased with coming in second, she can take comfort in knowing that her 160,477 votes put her way ahead of her nearest competitor, Lady Gaga, by well over 100,000 votes. Taking 11.91 percent of the poll, Gaga’s “The Edge of Glory” came in third with 52,126 votes. The only other song to pull down a sizable number of votes was Rihanna’s “S&M,” a track released in late spring that topped the charts early this summer, which garnered 34,681 votes for 7.92 percent of the tally. Interestingly, many of the summer’s biggest chart hits found themselves without much love in our Newsroom poll. Among the songs that reached #1 on the Billboard singles chart but found themselves with fractional percentages of the vote here were Katy Perry’s history-making “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” with just 1.26 percent, Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” (0.33 percent), LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” (0.71 percent) and this week’s Hot 100 #1, Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera’s “Moves Like Jagger” (0.98 percent). Radio hits from Pitbull and Nicki Minaj also missed the boat with 3,090 votes (0.71 percent) and 1,655 votes (0.38 percent), respectively, for “Give Me Everything” and “Super Bass,” while “Dirty Dancer” by Enrique Iglesias featuring Usher and Lil Wayne took 0.28 percent and “Otis” from Throne duo Jay-Z and Kanye West scored just 0.12 percent (or 524 votes). The numbers for mainstream artists like Perry, Minaj and West were fairly similar to those accrued by lower-profile acts Foster the People, Cobra Starship and David Guetta. Foster’s “Pumped Up Kicks” earned the band 0.14 percent of our poll, with slightly bigger numbers falling to Cobra’s “You Make Me Feel” (0.25) and Guetta’s “Where Them Girls At” (0.16). How did your favorite song rate? Let us know in the comments! Related Videos 2011 Song Of Summer Battle Related Artists Eminem Royce Da 5’9″
Hyped album moved 964,000 copies in its first week. By Gil Kaufman Lil Wayne Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images Lil Wayne was thisclose to making history as the first rap act to open with back-to-back million-selling albums. Thanks to record-setting iTunes sales of 300,000, plus the push provided by a post-VMA on-sale stunt, Weezy’s eagerly anticipated Tha Carter IV will debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart next week on sales of 964,000, according to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan. That’s more than enough to win out over funky veterans the Red Hot Chili Peppers , who land at #2 with I’m With You thanks to sales of 229,000. That figure is less than half as much as the band’s previous release, the double album Stadium Arcadium, which moved 443,000 copies in its first week on the charts in 2006. Dance master David Guetta has a solid debut with his star-packed Nothing but the Beat, which lands at #5 (56,000), just barely edging out country singer Jake Owen ‘s Barefoot Blue Jean Night (55,000). A number of other artists got a VMA bump, including Adele, whose 21 is up 88 percent to 154,000 (putting her just shy of 3.3 million to date) and Beyonc
How appropriate: Your Labor Day holiday is on track to be owned by The Help , a movie about domestic workers. The female-driven, ’60s-set lit adaptation has been dominating the charts for three weekends in a row, plowing through the end-of-summer competition left and right, and you know what? Not even sharks and astronauts and spies can slow down the Help train. The pic’s on track for The Blind Side -esque awards buzz and an estimated $121M cume by the end of the four-day weekend. Is it crazy to imagine franchise potential here? Drop your The Help 2 sequel pitches below on your way to those Labor Day BBQ s!
‘It’s legendary,’ Flo tells MTV News of his brand-new single. By Rob Markman Flo Rida Photo: David Livingston/ Getty Images Soul singers are making a comeback in 2011. First Jay-Z and Kanye resurrected Otis Redding on their single “Otis,” and now Flo Rida reworks some classic Etta James vocals for his new single “Good Feeling.” And like his past #1 hits, including 2007’s “Low” and ’09’s “Right Round,” Flo is expecting to top the charts once again. “It’s legendary, we got Etta James featured on there, so it’s crazy,” he told MTV News from the 2011 VMA black carpet on Sunday. “Produced by Dr. Luke; you know we always with those #1 records. I’m very excited.” The song, which was released to iTunes on Monday, starts out with a dance-infused drum pattern, complete with electric bleeps that echo throughout the intro. After the eighth bar, Etta James’ vocals are ushered in: “Ohhh, sometimes I get a good feeling.” The sample is lifted from James’ 1962 “Something’s Got a Hold on Me” and has been updated for a 2011 electro-feel. After the chorus, Flo comes in, rapping in double-time about his success in the music game. And the Carol City, Florida, MC has much to celebrate. Later this year, he’ll release his fourth solo LP, Only One Rida (Part 2), the follow-up to his 2010 album, which included the hit singles “Club Can’t Handle Me” and “Turn Around (5, 4, 3, 2, 1).” Now he can add a song with Etta James — or at least an Etta James sample — to his list of musical moments. “You know, it just gotta be a blessing from God to make that happen,” Flo Rida said. “We got that cleared and I’m very excited.” The 28th annual MTV Video Music Awards have wrapped, but the real action is just getting started! Stick with MTV News for winners , fashion pics, video and behind-the-scenes stories about everything that went down. Visit VMA.MTV.com for the latest. Related Artists Flo Rida
Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne drops to #2 on Billboard chart. By Gil Kaufman The Game Photo: Jason Merritt/ Getty Images After more delays than a space shuttle launch, Compton rapper the Game will finally have his reward next week when his endlessly pushed-back fourth effort, The R.E.D. Album , debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. According to figures provided by SoundScan, the disc moved just under 98,000 copies, enough to grab the top spot but well below the first-week figures for his 2008 album LAX, which opened with 239,000 in sales. Either way, it’s just enough to beat out Jay-Z and Kanye West ‘s Watch the Throne , which drops to #2 in its third week, as sales dove 47 percent to 94,000 for a three-week total just north of 707,000. Among the new entries in the top 10 is a Barbra Streisand collection, What Matters Most — Barbra Streisand Sings the Lyrics of Alan and Marilyn Bergman (#4, 66,000), the debut from country supergroup Pistol Annies , Hell on Heels (#6, 42,000), which consists of Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe, and Angaleena Presley, and Muppets: The Green Album (#8, 30,000), with modern interpretations of the lovable puppets’ songs by OK Go, Weezer, My Morning Jacket, Amy Lee of Evanescence and the Fray. The rest of the top 10: Adele ‘s 21 (#3, 82,000), NOW 39 (#5, 44,000), Luke Bryan ‘s Tailgates & Tanlines (#7, 35,000), Jason Aldean ‘s My Kinda Party (#9, 29,000) and Eric Church ‘s Chief (#10, 24,000). Further down the line, Pavement singer Stephen Malkmus and his band the Jicks come in at #43 with Mirror Traffic (8,000), and 30 Seconds to Mars land at #76 with their new Unplugged set (6,000). Lil Wayne immediately jumped to the top of the iTunes album charts after Tha Carter IV dropped digitally following the VMAs on Sunday. He was followed by the Pistol Annies, Game, Adele, Jay and Kanye, Mumford & Sons’ Sigh No More, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ I’m With You , the Muppets album, Foster the People’s Torches and Rihanna’s resurgent Loud . Maroon 5 continue to dominate the singles chart with “Moves Like Jagger,” while Foster the People are right behind with “Pumped Up Kicks,” Gym Class Heroes make a strong showing with “Stereo Hearts” (featuring Maroon’s Adam Levine) and Rihanna has plenty to toast as “Cheers (Drink to That)” comes in at #4. Rounding out the tally: Bad Meets Evil’s “Lighters,” LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem,” Wayne’s “She Will,” Lady Gaga’s “You and I,” Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass” and OneRepublic’s Good Life.” Things will surely be shaken up next week when Wayne’s Tha Carter IV crashes the charts with estimates that it could sell nearly 1 million copies. Also debuting are the Chili Peppers, as well as David Guetta, VMA pre-show performers Cobra Starship and Lenny Kravitz. Related Artists The Game Jay-Z Kanye West
At a mere 23 years old Orlando-born Daniel Johson, aka Kane Beatz , has already helped make hip-hop history. While he is proud of music he’s produced for Trey Songz (“Bottom’s Up”) and Trick Daddy (“Tuck Your Ice”) his hit for Nicki Minaj, “Super Bass ” just helped her set a Billboard record. After ten weeks on the charts, the single bumped Missy Elliot’s “Work It” to become the most successful solo single by a female emcee in almost a ten years. “That feels crazy,” he told TheUrbandaily.com of his achievement. “Working with Nicki, she is one of the only female artists in a while that has that kind of potential so it feels incredible.” Beatz is part of a new wave of young producers (Boi-1da, Lex Luger, et al) taking the industry by storm working right from their computer desktops. “Super Bass” was one of four instrumentals he knocked out on Fruity Loops while visiting family in Orlando. “I use a lot of 808 elements in the music,” he answers when asked what makes his bass so Kryptonian . “I was trying to mix R&B and Pop at the time. There’s no real trick to the bass.” In addition to Billboard accolades the song has been covered by American Idol contestant Anoop Desai . While Kane hasn’t heard the cover, he feels it’s a testament to the song’s universal appeal. “I’ve had big records but ‘Super Bass’ connects people from so many different genres. I just take it in and enjoy it.” As any musician will tell you in 2011, success doesn’t come without its challenges. Kane Beatz was also the producer behind Young Money’s hit, “Bedrock,” and the song has recently become the focus of a lawsuit. [ read here ]. “I talked to [my management] about it but nothing has come to them in the mail,” he says. “They don’t even know what that is. I think they had the same name or something. But people don’t understand what it is. Wayne didn’t even write that song. The song is based off an old school pick up line, so I’m not sure what the situation is there.” Unlike some other producers, this may be the only time you hear Kane mention Lil Wayne and legal action in the same sentence. While a list of musicians, including Bangladesh , Playn-N-Skillz and Jim Jonsin are taking Lil Wayne to court for unpaid royalties, Beatz insists that his money is never funny when working with Weezy. “Me personally I’m managed by G. Roberson so Cash Money has always kept the business 100 with me,” he says. “One thing I know about Wayne is that everybody who works with him still ends up working with him so they must be doing something right.” After a busy and lucrative 2010 and 2011, Beatz has completed three songs with Nas for his up-coming album and is scouting talent for his label The Building. “Right now I’ve got JR Get Money, he’s on Lupe Fiasco’s ‘The Show Goes On,’ we gotta new single with Plies and at the same time looking for new outlets. I’m looking for a female artist to invest in.” Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass” Breaks Record
