‘It meant a lot coming from him,’ JoJo tells MTV News on VMA black carpet about Drizzy’s response. By Jocelyn Vena JoJo Photo: MTV News LOS ANGELES — JoJo has certainly grown up somewhere between releasing “Leave (Get Out)” back in 2004 as a 14-year-old and her very NSFW remix of Drake’s “Marvin’s Room.” As soon as JoJo dropped the sultry, sassy track , redubbed “Marvin’s Room (Can’t Do Better),” earlier this summer, blogs and music lovers went crazy over her mature voice and even more mature lyrical content. In the song, she coos lines like “F— that new girl that you like so bad/ She’s not crazy like me, I bet you like that.” Much like the Drizzy version, JoJo’s version is a swirling ode to drunk dialing that special someone, and the longing of the track seemed to resonate with folks — which is the most surprising part to JoJo, considering she drops a few F-bombs. “I was shocked!” she told MTV News on Sunday night on the VMA black carpet about the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the remix. So how did she end up recording her answer to Drake’s track? “Well, one of my friends was like, ‘Jo, you gotta hear this new Drake song!’ I loved it, and I thought Drake was really emotional and honest,” she explained. “I was like, ‘This a great record,’ so I had a little time in the car ride [on my way to the airport]. So I wrote my version in the car ride, and I landed in L.A., I went to the studio, I recorded it, and the next day I put it on the Internet, and people really, really loved it. And I was totally shocked, ’cause I was scared to use the F-word, and I didn’t know how people would respond to it.” The track, produced by Jordan Gatsby and featuring vocals from Travis Garland, is not only fan-approved, but also approved by the Canadian rapper himself. “He said I killed it and that he was really happy with everyone’s response,” she said of Drake’s reaction. “It meant a lot coming from him. It was all out of respect.” 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 JoJo Drake
With Nevermind anniversary weeks away, music’s biggest bands reflect on the other indispensible albums from a great year for rock. By James Montgomery My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless Photo: Sire On September 24, Nirvana’s epochal Nevermind album turns 20, a milestone that will be marked with much coverage, celebration and consternation in the media … not to mention a sundry of other events, including a high-profile benefit concert at Seattle’s Experience Music Project and a Jon Stewart-hosted Q&A with Nirvana’s surviving members. And understandably so. After all, Nevermind was a game-changer in every sense of the term — the kind of album that brought about seismic shifts in music, fashion and culture in general, one that defined a generation and, as such, deserves to be mythologized. And, in the coming weeks, we suspect you’ll see no shortage of stories that do just that. And while Nevermind casts an indelibly lengthy shadow, it bears mention that there was no shortage of other magical, massive and equally mythological albums that hit stores in 1991 … ones that, had Nirvana never broken through, would probably be getting the royal treatment right now. In 1991, rock truly rocked, so, in celebration of that fact, we’ve asked some of today’s biggest bands to discuss their favorite albums from that rather amazing year. Don’t worry, we’ll give Nevermind its due … but right now, we’re paying tribute to 1991’s other indispensible albums, in the words of their biggest fans. Dinosaur Jr., Green Mind Sludgy, somnambulant fourth album from Amherst, Massachusetts’ premier purveyors of bad-posture rock, Green Mind represents Dino Jr. at a great divide: Not only is it their first album without original member Lou Barlow, it’s also their first for major label Sire Records. Still, neither of those factors managed to sap its power, as mastermind J Mascis shouldered the load (it’s basically a solo album) on tracks like the squalling “The Wagon” and the roiling “Puke & Cry.” Of course, the band would later reconcile, but Green Mind still stands as a high-water mark, one that, from its iconic cover image to its shambolic moments of pure grandiosity, still stands the test of time. As remembered by Mark Hoppus, Blink-182 : “I got it when it came out and I just loved it, from the second that I listened to it. And I remember going to watch them at the Hollywood Palladium, and I think, actually, Nirvana opened that show maybe, or maybe not. [ Editor’s note: Nirvana did, in fact, open for Dino Jr. at the Palladium in June 1991. ] But they played the Palladium, and it was the loudest show that I’d ever been to and my ears rang for three days afterwards and I was deathly afraid that I’d permanently ruined my hearing, which I probably did, but it was well worth it.” My Bloody Valentine, Loveless The rare album that can be summarized entirely by its cover, MBV’s Loveless is 48-odd minutes of guitars slowly corroding, collapsing and combusting into a gloriously woozy, decidedly pink hue. Then again, you should probably listen to it, if only to marvel at the sheer size of the thing: an epic sonic collage that echoes for days, full of ringing, winging chords, ruddy drum loops and ethereal, barely there vocals. It sounded like nothing else at the time and, really, that’s still true today. Recorded in 19 different studios over the course of two years, it brought the band and its label, Creation, to the brink and was so huge an endeavor (in every regard) that, 20 years later, MBV have yet to record the follow-up. But that hasn’t stopped an entire generation of musicians from taking cues from Kevin Shields’ masterful din, most notably, the rather tricky art of learning how not to play guitar. As remembered by Brian Oblivion, Cults : “In the same vein as Nevermind, Loveless is another game-changing album. There’s that clich
My Bieber Experience was on November 11, 2010 (11/11 ironic huh?). Basically I’m know for being obsessed with Justin and my family knows it more than anyone so when we heard Justin was coming to town, I basically had to get tickets. It took my dad a couple months but in like October/September he came up with some and I was beyond excited. I also had two extra tickets to take my two friends. I was so excited, I had a countdown in my assignment planner and it was all I talked about! I started a membership on Bieberfever.com and entered to win meet & greets. It was 1 week before the concert and I was walking home with my friend. We were talking about the concert and how I had entered to meet him. We ended our conversation at my house. I walked inside and my whole family was sitting in the family room, which is a VERY rare occasion. I was like um hey what’s going on and my dad handed me a large envelope. I was like what is this and he just said to open it up. There was a printed out email inside and the first words I saw were DAVE REYNOLDS (shoutout to @davereynoldscba). I dropped to the ground and sobbed! I knew what it was. My dad told me to read it out loud and it happened that the radio guy my dad got tickets from happened to have extra meet and greets. Inside were the instructions for the meet and greet. I of course called my friends and we were all psyched! We kept it quiet for a while but on the day of the concert, word started getting out that we were leaving school earlier to go down to the Wolstein Center. We made our way to an overhang above Justin’s bus. We saw/talked to Kenny, Ry Good, and all of Justin’s crew but there was no sign of Justin! Pattie came out, the cutest most adorable mom ever, and said Justin was taking a nap and he would be out soon! We saw him a couple times and we waved and I almost fainted. Dave Reynolds posted a vid of us (to the left in the purple!) Soon it was time to meet Justin! I was having a heart attack in the line watching him take pictures with people through the black curtain. It was our turn to go in and Justin and Dave had just finished taking a picture. The first thing I saw were his eyes and he lost me there. I faintly remember him saying hi and putting his arm around me. At one point the camera wasn’t working and he was just laughing with us. We took our picture and I was just like thank you! Bye! He told us to enjoy the concert and it was nice meeting us! I was starstruck the rest of the night, I was shaking and my friend Lia cried after we met him! It was so funny so I taped it! T he concert was amazing, I laughed and cried, mostly sobbed! Ry Good gave me a hug in the middle of ‘Never let you go’ as I was sobbing! It’s been almost 10 months since MBE, and I know it wasn’t insanely cool or extravagant but I will NEVER forget it! Honestly and wholeheartedly, NEVER SAY NEVER! Thanks JB -@maddi_cin Read more here: My Bieber Experience was on November 11, 2010 (11/11 ironic…
Casey Anthony has “obvious mental health issues.” That is obvious. What was less clear is how and where she would treat them. Well, it appears that she is receiving professional psychiatric help at home in Florida. She’s concerned about leaving home – where she’s serving probation for a check fraud conviction – but knows she needs help, a TMZ report says . Not healthy . Whatever you think happened, there is a lot of work to be done here. The solution to get the help she needs while circumventing death threats is to have a “team” of mental health professionals visit her regularly. Casey Anthony has also employed the help of a spiritual adviser. The 25-year-old, who was acquitted of murdering her toddler, denied killing little Caylee Anthony, but attributes her undeniably bizarre behavior when her daughter went missing in 2008 to serious mental health deficiencies. Sources close to Anthony say she needs to cope with the “obvious trauma of losing her child.” Guilty or not, spending nearly three years behind bars in solitary confinement while awaiting trial for murder didn’t help. “It messed with her head,” said a source. Casey is also bettering herself by going to college online .
B gets sexy and artistic in self-directed clip. By Rob Markman Beyonce in her music video for “1+1” Photo: Columbia She may not know much about algebra, but when it comes to music videos, Beyonc
You can expect that the current round of stock market volatility is going to be tougher emotionally on a larger number of people than even 2008’s crash. You might also find it to be much tougher on your relationships with life and business partners, family and even friends. The reason is simple: unlike in 2008, more of us sense on a deeper psychic level that the system is actually broken. Our standard all-American faith that a quick fix might be possible has been shattered by the persistence of high unemployment and by the outrageous and unreal nature of politics in the U.S – to the degree that many people now suspect, and not surprisingly, that elections no longer make a difference. The most recent poll: 76% of Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction. The emerging sense that something fundamental has gone wrong – as in fact it has, with both parties beholden to the corporate interests that fund campaigns – has increased generalized anxiety and stress. Therapists and social workers confirm rising emotional and psychological issues among the populace. Most humans are not trained to deal with uncertainty, the way astronauts are trained, and so we tend to trigger into confusion, anxiety, anger and depression when the Big U shows up. Like any emotions, we can suppress them just so long before they find an outlet. One notable public outlet was Tea Party member public anger over Obamacare. One always reliable private outlet is our relationships , which tend to take poundings in times like this unless we give ourselves the training to manage them. What I call “obliteration fear” arises alongside economic uncertainty. People tend to get closer in their unconscious and in their imaginations to some picture of bleak fate. Most of us are ill-trained by the society and our family upbringings to deal creatively with this fear and uncertainty. Instead, we rely on coping mechanisms we developed in childhood to manage family stress or not getting our core emotional needs met. There are only six of these mechanisms: fight, flight, seek approval, control, manipulate, or sacrifice yourself to “fix” or enable someone else. We tend to have one or more of these coping mechanisms dominate our reactive behavior, although most of us rely on more than one in dealing with other people and with difficult situations. You can figure out which ones you most rely on. A problem with coping mechanisms is that they don’t fix the problem. In fact they aggravate the underlying emotions of fear, anger, sadness/despair and shock. And aggravated emotions find their outlet, very often against the person with whom you are in relationship. As a life coach who trains people to deal with these issues, I know there are healthy fixes that enrich a person’s entire life. There isn’t space here to share that training but I will explain one helpful relief practice called Soma Breathing. Instead of acting out, locate the emotional pain in your body. Focus on that part of your body and then simultaneously focus on directing your breath to that area. Don’t change your breathing pattern; instead, simply guide the breath to the pained area and feel it touching the area as a sweet kiss of soothing. As it leaves imagine it carrying away a small amount of the stress. Do this for a few minutes to warm up and then intuitively pick a soothing color and image to breathe in alongside the breath – or as colored breath. Continue until you feel the emotional outburst or deep pain moment has passed. Use as frequently and as long as needed. For additional guidance, you can check the Free Download on this website, jaylevin.com or relationshipcounselingtoday.com . There are also audios available covering training in critical areas of life success and relationships, including emotional and mind mastery. Beyond this, as a former political journalist and editor, I share the sensibility that something fundamental is amiss in America and I further share the analysis of MSNBC anchor Dylan Ratigan that the core issue is that the vast majority of politicians work for the big money sources that fund their campaigns and not for the overall benefit of the U.S. As Ratigan notes, it is going to take a Constitutional amendment to take money out of politics – and there is no more urgent public matter than to insist of all politicians that they get behind such an Amendment. **** J ay Levin, the founder and former Editor-in Chief of the LA Weekly newspaper, has been a highly successful life and relationship coach and trainer for 12 years. He recently made the core of his work available as classes in Life Rehab and Mastery and in Relationships. See relationshipcounselingtoday.com Read the original here: Stock Market Shocks and Relationship Quivers
‘It was cool to play something evil and dark,’ actor tells MTV News. By Terri Schwartz, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Christopher Mintz-Plasse in “Fright Night” Photo: DreamWorks The vampires in “Fright Night” might not sparkle in the sunlight, but star Christopher Mintz-Plasse still understands their appeal. “Now I get it, why people play vampires,” he told MTV News during Movie Awards Sneak Peek Week. “I’m like, there’ve been vampire movies. [But] that was really a lot of fun to do.” The crux of the issue, director Craig Gillespie explained, is that vampires are sexy. He made the argument that there are always vampire movies, but their popularity surges in waves. In the ’80s, there was “The Lost Boys,” in the ’90s there was “Interview With the Vampire” and now it’s “The Twilight Saga” keeping the vampire craze afloat. The key was finding a good vampire to sit at the flick’s center, and Gillespie said he always knew lead Colin Farrell would be good for the part. Farrell’s character, Jerry, is dark but also has a humorous aspect, and Gillespie was impressed with Farrell’s ability to walk that line. He knew it wouldn’t be a hard sell either because Hollywood celebrities tend to be drawn to vampire films. “It’s one of those things that actors love to do, because you’re getting to play sort of an iconic kind of character that has all this history with them. You get to have a lot of fun with it,” Gillespie explained. Mintz-Plasse certainly did. His character, Ed, gets ( spoiler alert! ) converted to a vampire in the movie, and Mintz-Plasse was psyched to whip out his inner bloodsucker. “It was cool to play something evil and dark,” he said. Related Videos MTV Sneak Peek Week: ‘Fright Night’
Losers make promises they often break. Winners make commitments they always keep. ~Denis Waitley Words mean nothing if they are not backed up with ACTION. If you applied this quote to a relationship, you could look at it this way: the engagement ring is the “promise” but getting married is the “commitment.” You have to apply this same philosophy to your life. Don’t be a Loser. Stop making empty “promises” to yourself. Instead, COMMIT to your success by taking ACTION toward achieving your dreams… (This quote was taken from the book “The Psychology of Winning” by Denis Waitley.)
We drop in on the band during rehearsals at the iconic Forum and see parallels between the two, in Bigger Than the Sound. By James Montgomery The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Anthony Kiedis Photo: MTV News The Forum — the slightly decrepit, strangely Roman arena on the corner of Manchester and Prairie in Inglewood, California — first opened its doors on December 30, 1967, and has, in the years that followed, played host to both the “Showtime” Lakers and the Gretzky Kings, not to mention just about every L.A.-area concert you’ve ever heard of, or were too drunk to remember. Parts of Led Zeppelin’s live How the West Was Won were recorded here, as were live albums by Cream, Steppenwolf, the Bee Gees and P-Funk, to name just a few. Over the course of its existence, it’s been known alternately as “the Fabulous Forum,” “the Los Angeles Forum” (even though it’s in Inglewood) and, in a move of corporate branding so subtle most locals didn’t know the difference, “the Great Western Forum.” Now, it’s mostly just an oval located in the center of an asphalt ocean in a less-than-desirable part of town. The Lakers and the Kings bolted for the shiny new Staples Center in 1999, and the live shows dried up soon after. A church owned it until last year and now people just jog around it. It is a fate unbecoming of such a legendary venue, really — a slow decline into obsolescence and calisthenics — and yet, this is how these things tend to go. Michael Balzary and Anthony Kiedis — the slightly graying yet strangely sculpted half of the Red Hot Chili Peppers — first opened their doors (or, you know, were born) on October 16 and November 1, 1962, respectively, and have, in the years that followed, arisen from the L.A. punk scene to achieve the kind of heights few in the music business can dare dream of: 65 million albums sold worldwide, nine Hot 100 singles in the U.S., and seven Grammy Awards, to name just a few. Over the course of their existence, the pair have been known as Flea and, well, Anthony (or maybe Sir Psycho Sexy). They have recorded some of the most celebrated albums of both the alt-rock heyday — namely, Mother’s Milk and Blood Sugar Sex Magik, — and the uncertain times that followed (1999’s Californication ), and they most certainly do calisthenics. And yes, you can probably see where I’m going with this. Because it’s not exactly difficult to draw parallels between the three entities: The Forum, a grandiose (and somewhat gaudy) monument to ’60s idealism and the excesses that followed, Flea and Kiedis the poster children for the decay that set in once that idealism gave way to cold hard fact, when those excesses devolved into plain old addictions. All three grew preternaturally old beneath the hazy sunshine of Southern California, and all three proudly wear the scars that came with that aging. They have each witnessed incredible highs and crushing lows, triumphs and tragedies, and they are all still standing. And because of that, both the arena and the Chili Peppers, which Flea and Kiedis formed in the obtuse shadow of the arena back in 1983, have become Los Angeles icons, the kind with pock marks on their faces and dirt beneath their fingernails; the real kind. In fact, about the only difference between the Forum and the Peppers seems to be that the latter is still fully operational. Other than that, they belong to each other. And yet, it is perhaps due to nothing more than grand cosmic coincidence that the Peppers have chosen the Forum as the rehearsal spot for their upcoming world tour, a very big endeavor in support of their very big I’m With You, the first new Chili Peppers record in more than five years. Or at least that’s what they told me on Wednesday when I stopped by to host the premiere of their brand-new “The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie” video. “We just got the call to show up to the Forum for rehearsal and were like, ‘Yes, that’s a good place to do it!’ ” Kiedis said. “They needed space to goof around with our stage and our lights … [but] I was warming up in one of the cavernous bowels of this beautiful institution, and I looked up and there was a great old photograph of [former Lakers’ guard] Nick Van Exel, charging me with the ball, number nine, looking me down, big head, big heart, big eyes … remember the time he got the ref?” Of course, I got the feeling, based on the second part of that statement, that it wasn’t mere coincidence that brought the Chili Peppers to the Forum, nor was it a love of Lakers ball (though, to be fair, Flea did point out that “This building is the home of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Byron Scott, Norm Nixon [and] many, many Bob McAdoos”). Instead, it was something much bigger; a love for the old building, or even a sense of purpose. After all, the Forum was where they learned how to be musicians, much like the long lost Club Lingerie, the punk spot operated by the late Brendan Mullen, who is eulogized on I’m With You ‘s “Brendan’s Death Song.” It is where they underwent several passages of manhood. In a way, they grew up here. “The second rock show I ever saw here was with [Anthony],” Flea laughed, peering up at the vaulted ceiling. “We came in here to see the Who, we snuck in, and we snuck in to see Queen here, too.” “We used to not have any money was the thing, but we wanted to go to the shows,” Kiedis smiled. “So we’d get right up to where they let you in at the turnstile, and we’d get down and go [through], and if they’d catch us, God bless ’em. But they never could.” So, in a sense, without the Forum, there probably would be no Red Hot Chili Peppers. Which is why they treat the place with such reverence, why, during rehearsals, they joined drummer Chad Smith and new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer to tear through old songs with a fury usually reserved for the actual live shows. It was almost as if they were paying tribute to the old ghosts that haunt the twisting corridors, or, more probably, to the bands that have brought the roof down over the past four-plus decades. It was an amazing thing to watch, and I couldn’t think of a more fitting setting. After all, the Forum and the Red Hot Chili Peppers share a bond much stronger than you could possibly imagine. They are both survivors. And to witness the band still operating at their peak, nearly 28 years after they first began, well, it somehow fills you with hope for the venerable old venue too. After all, the Forum deserves a comeback too, or at least a better fate than folks jogging around its perimeter. And maybe, in some small way, the Chili Peppers’ rehearsals — buoyant, fun, funky and, most important of all, loud — can help breathe new life into the old place, to lift it up and set it back on its feet. You get the feeling Flea and Kiedis feel a sense of duty to at least try. After all, it’s the least they could do. Related Videos MTV First: Red Hot Chili Peppers Related Artists Red Hot Chili Peppers
Illuminati Hov has created a new Hip-Hop urban legend. The story goes that he was on his way to his office at Roc Nation, around 3:00pm this afternoon, when he felt the need to stop by Hot 97 and visit with his old cronie Angie Martinez to address some things, namely the “The Throne is gonna fall apart before it even started” rumors we heard this morning. Here are a couple of highlights, courtesy of HipHopWired.com : “Kanye is a genius talent. Yeah we had a fight or something…I heard that I know we’re doing something right when I woke up to all that, I was like okay we’re hot now Kanye’s my brother. Yes we get on each other’s nerves but that’s part of pushing each other…the people who have problems with Kanye and myself are the people who are complacent in life. People don’t like to be pushed, it’s annoying. We push each other to be greater so yes at times in the studio where we’re yelling but that’s about it. I would never put my…I would never disrespect that man, I have so much respect for him. Put my hands on him…if I did it would be like in a backyard, you know…like brothers and you would never hear about it.” Our personal favorite moment from the interview: Yeah, I speak to [Young] Chris often. Freeway as well. I spoke to Beans when his grandma passed, we had a conversation. I don’t speak to Peedi at all, cuz he’s a psycho. [Angie: Jeez, that’s harsh.] What? [Angie: That’s not harsh?] No, he’s a psycho. That’s what I truly believe. Not trying to be funny or anything. Oh, and he’s also pulling a page from Wifey ‘s book: I’m sick of myself. Seriously, I gotta shut down after this. I never been on radio or TV this much in my life. I’m sick of myself. Flip the page for the full interview.
