‘Afeni Shakur she was loving the song,’ Meek Mill tells MTV News after performing ‘Tupac Back’ with Ross. By Rob Markman Meek Mill and Rick Ross perform at Tupac’s 40th birthday party Photo: Dennis Byron Tupac’s spirit lived on Thursday night at the Atlanta Symphony Hall, as family, friends and fans celebrated him on what would have been the late rapper/actor’s 40th birthday . Rick Ross, Erykah Badu, Bun B, 8Ball & MJG and comedian Mike Epps all attended the event, raising money for the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation, which helps students develop their skills in the creative arts. The crowd stood and applauded when Epps, host of the event, presented ‘Pac’s mother, Afeni, with a $10,000 donation, The Associated Press reported. Ross then took the stage with his new Maybach Music signee Meek Mill to perform their homage-paying single “Tupac Back.” Not only did the crowd approve but Meek told MTV News he noticed the reaction of one special partygoer in particular. “I was just representing for Tupac and we performed it out here in front of his mom. His mom was loving it; Afeni Shakur she was loving the song,” he said backstage after the show. Mill admitted that he expected to draw some criticism for comparing himself to the revered Shakur on “Tupac Back,” but said he first found inspiration to rap in Shakur’s rebellious attitude. “I knew it was going to be a lot of talk behind it, people sayin’, like, me thinkin’ I’m Tupac or whatever, but we represent the same thing,” the Philly rapper said. ” ‘Pac, he don’t care what he say, he gonna give you rawness, and that’s what I always felt. That’s the biggest message he gave to me: always give out rawness and the things you want to say, say it.” The party was held a day after AllHipHop.com obtained a letter from Dexter Isaac claiming to be involved in the 1994 robbery and shooting of Shakur at Quad Studios in Manhattan. ‘Pac, who was shot five times in that incident, survived, but began serving a prison sentence for a sexual assault charge in February 1995. On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot in Las Vegas and died in the hospital six days later. Related Artists Tupac Erykah Badu Rick Ross (Hip-Hop)
Jimmy ‘Henchman’ Rosemond’s lawyer fires back at Dexter Isaac’s charges that he was paid by the industry exec to shoot ‘Pac in 1994. By Rob Markman Tupac Photo: Chi Modu Instead of celebration, what would have been Tupac’s 40th birthday has been marred by controversy as new allegations emerge about the November 1994 Quad Studios robbery and shooting of the rapper. While fans celebrated ‘Pac’s life and legacy on Thursday (June 16), remembering the fallen icon with two trending topics on Twitter (#tupac and THUG LIFE), many of them were also debating the contents of a letter written by Dexter Isaac and posted to AllHipHop.com on Wednesday. In a note to the site, Isaac claimed to be the triggerman in the now-infamous robbery that left Shakur shot five times, two years before he was killed in a still-unsolved murder. Moreover, Isaac (who is serving a life sentence for murder, robbery, fraud and witness intimidation), now charges that it was ‘Pac’s former associate, Jimmy “Henchman” Rosemond , who set the whole thing up, paying him $2,500 to do the job. Rosemond’s lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, fired back, refuting Isaac’s story. “It’s a flat-out lie,” he told the New York Daily News. “Dexter Isaac is not claiming this 17 years later to clear his conscience. He’s doing it because he’s told anybody who will listen he doesn’t want to die in prison. He has kids and wants to work off his sentence. He can’t be trusted.” “I want to apologize to his family [Tupac Shakur] and for the mistake I did for that sucker [Jimmy Henchman],” Isaac told AllHipHop.com from prison. “I am trying to clean it up to give [Tupac’s and Biggie’s] mothers some closure.” Henchman and his defense team, however, are not buying it. On May 17, news broke that federal authorities issued an arrest warrant for Jimmy Henchman in connection with a drug case. Rosemond, who as head of Czar Entertainment has had ties to numerous rappers, believes that the government is using incarcerated informants to build a case against him. He attacked Isaac’s credibility in a statement first issued to XXLMag.com. “If the government is relying on informants like Winston ‘Winnie’ Harris, a convicted drug dealer and Jamaican deportee, who came to me and motioned via hand signal that he was forced to wear a wire and begged me to skip town, or Dexter Isaac, who is serving life in prison plus 30 years, then I’m sure I will not be offered a fair trial.” The late Tupac’s onetime prot
‘It’s verification for what ‘Pac said,’ E.D.I. Mean tells MTV News of Shakur’s lyrics about Jimmy ‘Henchman’ Rosemond. By Rob Markman Tupac Shakur Photo: MTV News On the eve of what would have been Tupac Shakur’s 40th birthday, an imprisoned man has admitted to shooting the late rapper/actor during a robbery at Manhattan’s Quad Studios in November 1994. What’s even more startling is that the alleged triggerman, Dexter Isaac, is claiming in a letter that was obtained by AllHipHop.com that ‘Pac’s former associate, Jimmy “Henchman” Rosemond, paid him $2,500 to do the deed. While this may be a revelation to some, ‘Pac’s former prot
This Is Epic, You Should Watch It of the Day: Genndy Tartakovsky of Dexter’s Laboratory , Samurai Jack , and Star Wars: Clone Wars fame offers up a kickass animated prologue to Scott Stewart’s highly anticipated live-action adaptation of Hyung Min-woo’s acclaimed Korean comic Priest . [ bleedingcool .] Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Daily What Discovery Date : 06/04/2011 23:45 Number of articles : 2
This Is Epic, You Should Watch It of the Day: Genndy Tartakovsky of Dexter’s Laboratory , Samurai Jack , and Star Wars: Clone Wars fame offers up a kickass animated prologue to Scott Stewart’s highly anticipated live-action adaptation of Hyung Min-woo’s acclaimed Korean comic Priest . [ bleedingcool .] Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Daily What Discovery Date : 06/04/2011 23:45 Number of articles : 2
The rest of the top 12 are letting their grades slip performing songs from the year they were born. By Eric Ditzian “American idol” finalist Stefano Langone Photo: FOX Before we dive into this week’s “American Idol” report card, we need to pause and award a special gold star to Steven Tyler, whose commentary on Wednesday night — replete with rhyming phrases, butchered metaphors and one instance of nonsensical, if oddly well-intentioned, racial profiling — keep us glued to the telly through some snooze-inducing performances. Who cares if his commendations didn’t always line up with objective reality? We’d tune in any day of the week to hear the Aerosmith frontman suggest that one singer has a “sorcerer’s grasp of melody” and highlight another singer’s “ethnic what-it-is-ness.” Yet just as we hand out that gold star to Tyler — and plan to dole out a few more — there are far too many contestants who earned themselves some demerits on Wednesday. It doesn’t matter if they were sick or sleepy or just simply misguided in their song choices from the year they were born — there’s no hiding from our “Idol” report card. Let’s get on with it! Excellent Stefano Langone : On a generally weak evening in “Idol” land, Stefano finds himself at the top of the class, despite his pretaped diss of “Funky Cold Medina.” Harsh! Stefano’s got a silky smooth voice, confidence for days, and he popped off some top-notch runs during Simply Red’s “If You Don’t Know Me By Now.” Then he went ahead and sealed the deal with that bear-hug with his mom. Now, all he’s got to do is apologize to Tone Loc. Good Pia Toscano : From judges to Jimmy Iovine to the voting public, everyone has been waiting for Pia to bust out something that isn’t a capital-B ballad. Who knew the moment she’d finally go up-tempo-ish would be with a rendition of Whitney Houston’s “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”? Sure, it had a bit of a cruise-ship cabaret feel, and her outfit would have been a better fit on “The Love Boat” than “American Idol,” but her vocals were, as always, on point Scotty McCreery : Iovine spoke up for an army of frustrated viewers when he said he’s not trying to change Scotty, just have him grow and get better. If only! Nothing approaching growth took place during his version of Travis Tritt’s “Can I Trust You With My Heart.” One note at the end snuck out of Scotty’s comfort zone before he reeled the vocals back in. The North Carolina native can probably coast into the finals without growing in any meaningful way, but where’s the fun in that? Lauren Alaina : Wacked-out on Nyquil though she may have been, Lauren showed no ill effects once she stepped up onstage (the same cannot be said for her pre-performance interview, when the only thing she seemed to be able to giggle-slur at Ryan Seacrest was, “Look at yooooooooooooou!”). Precocious and confident, Lauren bounced back from a subpar performance last week and solidified her fan-favorite status during Melissa Etheridge’s “I’m the Only One.” Satisfactory James Durbin : He got off to a very shaky start and never really recovered; we blame the absurd tail/scarf thingamabob James once again attached to his hiney. Last week, when he left that piece of flair in his dressing room, the guy slayed us with an emotional ode to Paul McCartney. This time around, he split the difference between vulnerable rocker and hair-metal circus act, and it didn’t work. Oh, and he seemed to hint that he’d be around until the finale several months down the road. Cocky ain’t a good look. Be humble and be great. On Wednesday, James, you were neither. Paul McDonald : We know Paul was sick, but was he also suffering from vertigo? Perhaps chronic dizziness is the key to explaining that marionette-meets-drunken-sailor dancing style. More distracting than those moves, though, were his lackluster vocals. He’s still got the most distinctive voice on the show, and we hope he doesn’t land in the bottom three this week. We hope by next week, Paul’s on the mend and ready to wow us again as he did earlier in the month with Rod Stewart’s “Maggie May.” Haley Reinhart : Randy Jackson echoed what we’ve been wondering for a while: What kind of artist is Haley ? She seems the least fully-formed of anyone on the show. Perhaps the pressure of trying to figure out exactly who she is got to her. Haley was nervous from the get-go and couldn’t keep up with the tempo of Whitney Houston’s “I’m Your Baby Tonight.” Will that lipstick debacle earn her some sympathy votes? Fingers crossed! Because we continue to think she’s got a lot of potential and a beautiful instrument, and if she sticks around long enough, she just might surprise us one of these days. Casey Abrams : Man, we loved the song choice of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” before we even heard a note. We thought we were in for a creative arrangement — perhaps something as inspired as Andrew Garcia’s re-jiggering of “Straight Up” last year. What we got instead was a cover you’d hear in any basement in any suburb, where a bunch of middle-school kids are rocking out before dinnertime. We won’t even get started on his singing, if we can call it that, because we’re still haunted by that crazy-eyed look on his face as he raced to keep up with this grunge classic. Unsatisfactory Naima Adedapo : Uh-oh. We’ve been rooting for Naima, if only because she offers up a sense of artistic unpredictability in a season that is sorely lacking it. We even defended her take last week on Rihanna’s “Umbrella”; it was a mess, but at least it was a compelling mess. This week, her homage to Tina Turner was too sloppy to endorse, and we suspect she’ll end up in the bottom three. Her flavor may be crazy, but her vocals, alas, are cuckoo. Thia Megia : Back in the day, we used to fall asleep when someone popped “Pocahontas” into the living room VCR. Visions of those somnolent evenings came tip-toeing back to us when Thia voluntarily — voluntarily! — chose to sing a tune from that Disney flick. Last year, we used to ding Katie Stevens for insisting on becoming the oldest, mustiest teenager the world has ever seen. Thia is giving Stevens a run for her money in 2011. Oh, and enough with the ballads! We have a feeling she’s safe for a few more weeks, so we hope she takes a cue from Pia and shows us some artistic range. Karen Rodriguez : Looking like the lovechild of Snooki and General Zod, Karen insisted again on toggling between English and Spanish, as if lingual dexterity might mask her vocal shortcomings. After a trip to the bottom three last week, Karen just might be the odd woman out on elimination night. Jacob Lusk : Listening to Jacob sing is like riding a rickety roller coaster: kinda fun, mostly terrifying. There’s no denying he communicates genuine emotion while singing; the problem is that the emotion he often inspires in listeners is fear. Don’t miss “Idol Party Live” every Thursday on MTV.com, following the “American Idol” results show, for analysis, celebrity guests and even some karaoke — get in the conversation by tweeting with the hashtag #idolparty ! In the meantime, get your “Idol” fix on MTV News’ “American Idol” page , where you’ll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions. Related Videos MTV News Extended Play: ‘American Idol’ Top 13 ‘Idol Party Live’ With Jim Cantiello And Sammi ‘Sweetheart’ Related Photos ‘American Idol’ Season 10 Performances
First-round voting set to close Sunday at midnight. By James Montgomery Foo Fighters Photo: MTV News The Foo Fighters entered the 2011 Musical March Madness tournament as the top seed in the meaty Midwest region, and, so far, they’ve lived up to that high billing, totally dominating their over-matched first-round opponents, 16th-seeded the Damned Things . Vote for your favorite bands now over on the Newsroom blog. With voting on opening-round matchups set to close Sunday at midnight, the Foos hold a commanding 73-27 lead over the Damned Things (who were rallying the troops early) , all but ensuring them a spot in the second round of our tournament. And though they’re poised to move one step closer to hoisting the championship trophy , the Foos remain remarkably nonplussed about not only their title hopes, but the entire MMM bracket, for that matter. “That sounds like exercise or something,” Foos frontman Dave Grohl replied when asked about Musical March Madness. “And ‘bracket’ sounds like ‘brisket’ to me. Sort of makes me want to eat something.” It bears mention that Grohl said this one day after the Foo Fighters kicked off the South by Southwest Music Festival with a raucous surprise set at the Austin, Texas, BBQ shack/venue Stubb’s , which probably explains why he had brisket on the brain. But still, with a field of competitors that still includes heavyweights like 30 Seconds to Mars , Linkin Park and Panic! at the Disco , you’d think the Foos would a least be looking ahead to the tournament’s later rounds. But, again, you’d be wrong. Instead of looking forward, the Foo Fighters are looking backward. Seems, if anything, their Musical March Madness success has stirred up some painful childhood memories — certainly a first in the illustrious two-year history of the tourney. “[It] makes me think of walking down the hallway in high school and being called ‘f–‘ by all the jocks,” guitarist Chris Shiflett said, laughing. “You now what though?” drummer Taylor Hawkins added. “If you saw a picture of Chris in high school, you’d understand.” Will the Foos survive to stir up more bad thoughts for Shiflett? Or will they be felled by one of their fellow titans? Well, that’s really up to you, isn’t it? Voting is now open in all first-round matchups over on the Newsroom blog and closes Sunday night. May the best band win, even if it pains them to do so. MTV’s Musical March Madness tournament is back! Voting on all first-round matchups continues until Sunday, at which point we’ll move on to the second round of the action. All winners are determined by your votes, so if your favorite act made the cut, it’ll be up to you to guide them to glory. You can rally the troops on Twitter using the hashtag #MMM — but get ready, it’s gonna be a war. Related Photos Bands Hit The Court For MTV’s 2011 Musical March Madness
Iconic show’s ’90s host says he’s excited to bring back a ‘trustworthy’ place for fans to find new music. By Ryan J. Downey Matt Pinfield Photo: Bryan Bedder/ Getty Images “120 Minutes,” two of the most beloved hours in alternative-rock history, is returning to the airwaves. MTV2 will air a brand-new monthly version of the trailblazing music program with a weekly online counterpart dubbed “120 Seconds” on MTV Hive . Both will be hosted by Matt Pinfield,
Iconic show’s ’90s host says he’s excited to bring back a ‘trustworthy’ place for fans to find new music. By Ryan J. Downey Matt Pinfield Photo: Bryan Bedder/ Getty Images “120 Minutes,” two of the most beloved hours in alternative-rock history, is returning to the airwaves. MTV2 will air a brand-new monthly version of the trailblazing music program with a weekly online counterpart dubbed “120 Seconds” on MTV Hive . Both will be hosted by Matt Pinfield,
