Gold exclusively previews his new collaboration with Dirty South and Kate Elsworth. By Akshay Bhansali Thomas Gold Photo: MTV News Veteran DJ/producer Thomas Gold has surged in popularity in the last two years with a series of hits. Solo bangers “Marsch Marsch” and “Agora” are DJ set staples, and Swedish House Mafia fans know Gold’s remixes of Lady Gaga’s “Judas” and Adele’s “Set Fire to the Rain” can electrify a dance mob. And now, with his “Sing2me” single still on the way, Gold has another hit on his hands with “Eyes Wide Open,” a collaboration with Dirty South and Kate Elsworth that was recently previewed by tastemaker Pete Tong on his BBC Radio 1 show. When Gold was recently in New York, he stopped by MTV News in Times Square to break down the elements of “Eyes Wide Open.” “Dirty South and me, we did a bootleg together,” Gold said. “Dragan (Dirty South) had recorded a vocal with Kate, and we used it for the bootie and we played it out a lot. But in the end we decided to skip the bootleg because we fell in love with the vocal. We both loved it so much that we decided to do a new track around the whole thing.” “Eyes Wide Open,” which will be available for purchase January 23, is an effort Gold feels certainly cements the magic that comes from a Thomas Gold/ Dirty South collabo. “Dragan and me, we had a so much fun working (together),” Gold said. “There’s a great chemistry between us, and we had a good time. We both love the track. I can’t wait to see the reactions on the dance floor.” What do you think of Thomas Gold, Dirty South and Kate Elsworth’s “Eyes Wide Open”? Watch the video and sound off in the comments below Related Artists Thomas Gold
‘I’ma be working, 2012 you gonna see my name for real,’ Meek Mill’s producer tells Mixtape Daily. By Rob Markman Jahlil Beats Photo: MTV News Meek Mill and Rick Ross ‘ “I’ma Boss” wasn’t Jahlil Beats ‘ first production credit, but it is by far the biggest. The track’s crashing drum stack and swirling synth line set the perfect pace for the rap hit. Thanks in part to the sound bed that the Chester, Pennsylvania, producer provided, “I’ma Boss” landed at the top of many best-of-2011 rap lists, including our RapFix best songs list . Now Jahlil, who has already produced for Chris Brown, Soulja Boy and Fabolous, is seeing even more doors open for him. “It’s crazy because me and Meek started off from the bottom, from the basement, and for us to get on this type of level where people saying he had one of the best singles of the year and stuff like that, it’s just a blessing for me,” Jahlil told Mixtape Daily on the red carpet for the reopening of Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club in New York on Wednesday night. Last year, Jahlil signed on with Hov’s Roc Nation as the label’s in-house producer and he’s looking forward to a fruitful 2012. “Right now I’m doing stuff for Willow [Smith], Meek, of course. I was just out in L.A. working with No ID on stuff for Big Sean,” Beats said. “I’ma be working, 2012 you gonna see my name for real.” Who else would you like to see Jahlil Beats work with in 2012? Tell us in the comments! Related Artists Meek Mill Will Smith Big Sean
‘I know when it’s time to make a strategic retreat,’ former GOP presidential hopeful says. By Dan Montalto Rick Perry Photo: Getty Images Rick Perry announced Thursday (January 19) that he is suspending his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination and throwing his support behind former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Perry made the announcement at a news conference in Charleston, South Carolina, saying, “I have come to the conclusion that there is no viable path forward for me in the 2012 campaign. I know when it’s time to make a strategic retreat.” The Texas governor’s announcement came just hours before the final debate leading up to Saturday’s South Carolina primary, in which he had been polling in the low single digits. Perry finished fifth in both the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary . Upon entering the race, Perry initially surged in the polls, but his support quickly dwindled following several gaffes during the Republican debates. In explaining his support for Gingrich, Perry stated, “I believe Newt is a conservative visionary who can transform this country,” adding that Gingrich has the “heart of a conservative reformer.” With recent polls showing Gingrich closing in on Romney’s lead in South Carolina, Perry’s timing and endorsement could have an impact on Saturday’s primary. Perry’s endorsement of Gingrich also comes on the same day that a recount of the Iowa caucus results erased Romney’s razor-thin victory, putting former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum at the top of the vote count. Check back for up-to-the-minute coverage on the primary races and stick with PowerOf12.org throughout the 2012 presidential election season. Related Videos New Hampshire Primary Sparks Youth Conversation
Former Obama ambassador failed to pick up momentum in race. By Gil Kaufman John Huntsman speaks during the 2012 New Hampshire primary Photo: Getty Images After a series of disappointing finishes and a failure to emerge from the pack, former Utah governor Jon Huntsman announced his withdrawal from the 2012 presidential race on Monday (January 16). Huntsman threw his support behind leading candidate Mitt Romney in a bid to unite a Republican party that is sorely divided over which candidate will take on President Obama in November. Huntsman served as ambassador to China in the Obama administration and was the sole voice of moderation amid a pack of White House contenders that have done their utmost to highlight their conservative bona fides. After skipping campaigning in Iowa to focus all his energies on last week’s New Hampshire primary, he came in a distant third to Romney and Ron Paul. And though he put on a brave face and said his #3 finish in New Hampshire was a “ticket to ride” to the next contest in South Carolina on January 21, the reality of his anemic support base appears to have become clear to the man whose bid was launched on the promise of bringing civility back to the process. Almost from the start, Huntsman was unable to win over a Republican voting base that looked at his service in the current Democrat administration with scorn and blanched at his support on some social issues, including civil unions for gay couples. In a campaign that struggled to pull polling numbers out of the single digits for most of the past year, one of the bright spots for Huntsman was the media embrace of his music-loving daughters’ social-networking prowess. Sisters Mary Anne, 26, Abby, 25, and Liddy, 24, helped focus some attention on their dad’s often-overlooked campaign with their irreverent viral videos and tweets. . Speaking to MTV’s Power of 12 last week in New Hampshire, the Huntsman trio said the grueling campaign was a “family affair” that they were really enjoying. “We call it a roller coaster: You never know which way the car is going to go,” said Abby on the eve of the Granite State contest when it looked like her dad’s poll numbers were finally inching up into the solid double digits. “We think [social media] is crucially important for this election cycle, especially for our younger generation, so we’ve kind of run with it,” added Liddy, referring to such now-infamous bits as a YouTube send-up of former candidate Herman Cain’s “smoking” commercial and a Justin Timberlake remake promoting their dad. Despite his pledge to endorse Romney, just last week Huntsman referred to the former Massachusetts governor as “unelectable.” With Huntsman — who, like Romney, was vying to be the nation’s first Mormon president — out of the race, leading candidate Romney is now facing off against Paul, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, former House speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Governor Rick Perry. Stick with PowerOf12.org throughout the presidential election season. Related Videos New Hampshire Primary Sparks Youth Conversation
‘People our age should be looking at the opportunity these candidates are presenting to them,’ young campaign volunteer tells MTV News. By Gil Kaufman, with reporting by Sway Calloway Rick Santorum Photo: Justin Sullivan/ Getty Images MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — Rick Santorum almost pulled off a Hail Mary win at the Iowa caucus last week. But it will take a Tim Tebow-like feat of daring to do the same at the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday (January 10) in a state where independent voters rule and even dedicated Republicans don’t always fall in step with the party line. That fact was on display last week when the former Pennsylvania senator was heckled at a forum with college students over his stance against gay marriage, which is legal in New Hampshire. Asked if she thought it hurt him, “I do,” said Michelle Gearrity, a Quinnipiac University student who has been in the state for the past week working as a volunteer on the Santorum campaign along with her friend Jordanne Anderson. “I think the youth are stuck right now on a lot of social issues, but for me personally I think everyone has to look at the big issue now, which is the economy, jobs. Everyone’s affected: your neighbors, your brothers, your parents, your grandparents. We’re college students. I’m graduating in a year, it’s in the back of my mind constantly.” Anderson, 19, and Gearrity — who were both at the college convention in Concord, New Hampshire, where Santorum was booed — said they believe the candidate has the best economic plan to bring the country out of the recession and they are focused on that, not the divisive social issues that typically pop up in general elections. Standing outside Jillian’s Billiards Club in downtown Manchester on Monday night as Santorum spoke to his constituents inside, Gearrity said that to woo voters her age, he needs to look them in the eye and explain how his Made in America plan to bring more manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. could help them apply their technical skills as they graduate college. “We need to step back and bring back jobs to America that we’re sending ashore,” she said. “People our age should be looking at the opportunity these candidates are presenting to them.” With Santorum idling in third place in most polls leading up to Tuesday’s vote, Anderson said the pair have not been working on getting out the vote so much as making calls to rally the candidate’s faithful. “We actually are having a real lot of positive feedback, [but] we are noticing it’s not as much youth, which we’d like to push more on the youth,” she said in a nod to the fact that Santorum has had a hard time so far breaking through to the 45 million voters age 18-29. “It seems that Ron Paul has really sucked in that campaign this year. We have had a lot of youth interest, so we’re trying to push it more.” MTV’s Power of 12 has been talking to young voters in New Hampshire this week, and they’ve confirmed that Paul has continued to speak to that group with his message of smaller government and less regulation. But if Santorum is to have any chance of another surprisingly strong showing before he moves onto more-welcoming territory in upcoming Southern primaries in South Carolina and Florida, high school senior Amanda Biundo said he’ll need to figure out a way to break through to people her age. “If you look at Iowa, every single vote counts,” she said of the inaugural contest where Santorum lost to Mitt Romney by just eight votes. “You just have to let them know that their vote counts and this is a chance for them to show that they do have an importance and that their opinion does matter to this country.” MTV is on the scene in New Hampshire! Check back here around the clock for up-to-the-minute coverage on the primary caucuses, and stick with PowerOf12.org throughout the presidential election season. Related Videos New Hampshire Primary Sparks Youth Conversation
Does this make Willie Wilkerson the King of Soul? Call him what you want, he’s engaged to Aretha Franklin! The iconic singer, 69, is planning to marry her “forever friend” Wilkerson, her rep confirms , adding that they are discussing tying the knot on Miami Beach, with an exclusive reception aboard a private yacht. Here’s a photo of the soon-to-be newlyweds: On the celebrity fashion front, Aretha “is considering Donna Karan, Valentino and the queen of wedding dresses, Vera Wang, to design her gown,” says her rep. Franklin, who lost 85 pounds last year after a health scare, said “I feel fabulous.” Adds the singer herself of the upcoming nuptials to Willie Wilkerson: “We’re looking at June or July for our date and no, I’m not pregnant, LOL!” LOL, indeed. And congratulations! [Photo: WENN.com]
With just one day remaining before the Iowa caucuses kick off the GOP primary process, Ron Paul dinged surging rival Rick Santorum for being a fiscal liberal. Paul said the former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania and staunch social conservative, who has gained traction of late, voted for too much spending while in Congress. “I mean, have you looked at his record? Go look at his record,” Paul told CNN. Ron and Rand Paul Interview Accompanied by son Rand Paul, Ron continued: “He spends too much money. He wasn’t leading the charge to slash the budgets and vote against big government.” Rand Paul, who was elected to the U.S. Senator from Kentucky in 2010, added that Santorum’s voteing history proved he wasn’t a true conservative. “He voted to double the size of the Department of Education,” Rand Paul said. “He voted to expand Medicare and add free drugs for seniors and he has voted for foreign aid.” “Those are not conservative principles … 77 percent of the American people are opposed to foreign aid and Rick Santorum has voted for it every time it’s come down.” Ron Paul, who is running neck-and-neck with Mitt Romney and Santorum in Iowa, again addressed a potential third-party bid should he fail to win the GOP nomination. “I have no plans in doing that,” Paul said. “Tomorrow is a big day. We’ll see what happens but I have no intention of doing that, no plans and no desire.”
Surging in the polls, GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum was greeted with a fistful of glitter in Johnston, Iowa Friday, the latest so-called “glitter bombing” of a Republican candidate. The male protester partly missed, with purple glitter ending up both on Santorum and the ground as the former Pennsylvania senator went in to watch a football game with supporters. “Stop the hate! Taste the rainbow!”… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Blaze Discovery Date : 31/12/2011 22:41 Number of articles : 2
Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum surged into third place in a new Iowa, and the Republican Presidential hopeful took this piece news as an opportunity to slam one of the two people ahead of him: Ron Paul. A CNN survey showed Santorum with 16 percent support in Iowa, in advance of the January 3 caucuses. Mitt Romney has 25 percent and Paul 22. Santorum, who struggled to gain traction for an entire year, finally has in part due to Newt Gingrich’s collapse. Asked about Paul’s support, he said : “Ron Paul says he’s going to eliminate five departments. Ron Paul passed one bill in 20 years. What give you the idea that he can eliminate anything?” “I mean, he has absolutely no track record of building any kind of coalition to get anything done anywhere,” Santorum said. “I understand the appeal that Ron Paul has: it’s simple, it’s short – but there’s no track record there.” “What people in Iowa like about Ron Paul is all of his economic talk which requires Congress to act of which he has showed no ability to get them to do.” “What they don’t like about Ron Paul is this craziness about cutting the military in half and getting our troops out of everywhere. He can do that. He can actually order that on day one – all our troops around the world to come home.” Santorum called Paul’s foreign policy “far to the left of President Obama.” “I mean he’s out in the Dennis Kucinich wing of the Democratic Party. Don’t laugh! That’s where he is. This country is not going to elect Dennis Kucinich President. I don’t care how much government he wants to cut.” He said the “danger” of Paul’s policies “should just chill every Iowan.” “People say, ‘Well he won’t really do that.’ Well he’ll be 78 years old. How many 78-years-olds say – after saying this for 30 years – change their mind?” “Let’s just be honest. By then you are sort of set in your ways. It’s not like this is new, so let’s get serious about what message Iowa is going to send to the country, and the message has to be that we want a responsible conservative.” Just a few observations here: Paul is actually 76, FYI. Paul’s supporters will likely be more energized the more people go after him. Santorum lost his Senate seat by 17 points in 2006. When you Google Ron Paul, this doesn’t happen .
MTV News remembers ‘Jackass’ daredevil Ryan Dunn, Alice in Chains bassist Mike Starr and Cali Swag District’s M-Bone, among others. By Tami Katzoff Nate Dogg Photo: Mark Sullivan/ WireImage This year we lost some of our brightest stars: artists that spanned the genres of rock, hip-hop and pop, as well as TV and film. They were at different stages in their careers — some just starting to rise, others already legends — but all left a distinct mark on pop culture, and their deaths affected us deeply. Beloved hip-hop icons Nate Dogg and Heavy D influenced the generations of artists who followed them. Nate (born Nathaniel Hale) died at age 41 after suffering several health setbacks related to a stroke. One of the key players in the birth of the West Coast G-Funk sound, the crooner’s silky smooth vocals touched classic tracks from Snoop Dogg and Warren G to 50 Cent and Ludacris. Fun-loving Heavy D, a major force in the New Jack Swing era, had hits with songs like “We Found Love” and “Nuttin’ But Love,” but he had also branched out into film and theater. He was 44 when he died this past fall. Photos: The celebrities gone too soon in 2011. We lost Mike Starr , former bassist for the groundbreaking Seattle grunge band Alice in Chains. Like Amy Winehouse, who also died this year at the age of 27, Starr’s talent was often overshadowed by dependency on alcohol and drugs. Gun violence claimed the life of 22-year-old Montae Talbert, the Cali Swag District dancer otherwise known as M-Bone . And Australian actor Andy Whitfield , who got his big break when he was cast as the lead in the Starz TV series “Spartacus: Blood and Sand,” was 39 when he succumbed to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Finally, the MTV family mourned the death of “Jackass” daredevil and “Viva La Bam” star Ryan Dunn . The 34-year-old died on a rural Pennsylvania road along with his 30-year-old passenger, Zachary Hartwell, when their car slammed into a guardrail and caught fire. Share your memories of those we lost this year in the comments below. 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 Remembering Nate Dogg Remembering Heavy D Remembering Ryan Dunn Related Photos In Memoriam: Stars We Lost In 2011
