MC talks to MTV News about working with the former Roc-A-Fella CEO, whom he is reportedly suing for selling his music without permission. By Rob Markman Curren$y Photo: Rahav Segev/ Getty Images Curren$y and Damon Dash may not see eye to eye, but the Hot Spitter admits that he learned a lot trying to do business with his one-time friend. On Sunday, TMZ reported that Curren$y filed a lawsuit against Dame claiming that the former Roc-A-Fella CEO was selling his music without permission and is now seeking $1.5 million in damages. During an interview with MTV News last week, the New Orleans MC admitted that he has learned a lot working with Dash, as well as other notable CEOs he was once signed to like Master P and Birdman. “You run the list, I’ve picked up game from all of them, man, Master P, Baby. Me and Wayne made hours and hours and hours and hours’ worth of music in the studio, Dame,” Curren$y told MTV News on March 21. “I been around some people, made moves and soaked it all up.” In the early 2000s, Curren$y, as a member of the 504 Boyz, was signed to No Limit Records, where he appeared on a number of label releases. “What I got from P was the amount of projects there should always be, something happening from your label to keep you relevant,” he said. “Something should always be poppin’.” He then inked with Lil Wayne’s Young Money company, developing a unique recording process alongside Weezy, with whom he appeared on several mixtape tracks. “What I got from Cash Money, what I got from being around Wayne so much I guess the studio work,” he said. “We had the same work ethic and that’s how I realized I wasn’t crazy.” Next Curren$y hooked up with Dame Dash’s DD172 label, and together they released Pilot Talk and Pilot Talk II in 2010. According to TMZ, while both albums were released through Dash’s label, the two had never reached a concrete agreement. Spitta then went ahead and signed with Warner Bros. , where he dropped Weekend at Burnie’s through his own imprint, Jet Life, in 2011. Now Curren$y is demanding that Dame stop selling his LPs. Dash claims that he is well within his rights and that the rapper did in fact grant him permission, but a judge has yet to rule on the case. Even though the union is now marred in negativity, Curren$y contends that it was a learning experience. “With my last situation, I think I’ve learned more about the business,” he said, referencing Dame’s DD172. “I’ve learned more about the business through that prior situation.” Related Artists Curren$y
Blog about pop music, pop videos, pop stars, and pop culture from inside the MTV headquarters in Times Square. Excerpt from: Justin Bieber And Adam Levine In The Studio! TOGETHER! (PHOTO)
‘We’re saying, ‘Let’s just vibe out, write a million songs and see what we’re feeling most,’ Nick Jonas tells MTV News. By Jocelyn Vena Nick Jonas, Joe Jonas and Kevin Jonas of Jonas Brothers Photo: El Universal It’s on! The Jonas Brothers promised they’d be hitting the studio very soon, and it seems they are men of their word. This week big bro Kevin tweeted out some footage of Joe and Nick in the studio whipping up some musical ear candy that will surely delight their fans. While there’s no certainty that the teased track will make their next studio release, the song certainly does blend the guys’ love for mixing genres, touching on soul, rock and disco. When Nick dropped by the MTV News offices recently, he said that when this next album drops, all bets are off as to what it will sound like. “We have spoken about it, and the thing we’re doing which is different to any record we’ve made in the past is we’re saying, ‘Anything goes, let’s just vibe out, listen to a million songs, write a million songs and see what we’re feeling most.’ Our statement, as a band, for this record has to be really strong. We feel like we want to deliver the best record we can.” Individually, the guys have been busy churning out albums, but there hasn’t been a proper JB album since 2009, when they dropped Lines, Vines and Trying Times. The guys are well aware that the music scene is vastly different three years later. “We pay attention to it, definitely,” Nick said. “That’s part of your job as an artist, too, is to be aware of what other people are doing. … We pay attention and have been paying attention just to see where we want to fall. But first we just want to write great songs, and as far as how it sounds, that’ll come second.” There has yet to be a release date for the album, but the Jonas Brothers have teased that it may drop before the end of the year. The hashtag #JonasBrothers2012 attached to the studio video may be the best hint so far. “We don’t know how long it’s going to take us to write this record,” Nick warned. “It may take a couple weeks, it may take months, it could take years, but we’re ready to go on that journey. It’s been a while and there has been a lot of growth as individuals and musically as well. We’ve all gone on our journeys musically. It’ll be interesting to see what comes of that.” What are you hoping to see on the Jonas Brothers’ next album? Leave your comment below! Related Videos MTV News Extended Play: Nick Jonas Related Artists Jonas Brothers Joe Jonas
After several sneak peeks and teasers, Brandy and Monica have finally released their highly anticipated video, “It All Belongs To Me.” In the visuals, the ladies repossess the many items they purchased their “no good” man including: cars, homes, and a Mac book! These ladies look GORGEOUS! It’s been 14 years since Brandy and Monica have collaborated. What do you think? RELATED: Monica & Brandy: “Don’t Compare The Two” [EXCLUSIVE] Monica & Brandy In Talks For Summer Tour Amber Rose In The Studio With Monica Box Tops For Education Town Hall With Steve Harvey [EVENT]
Lohan scored early laughs as host but ‘Saturday Night Live’ castmembers did heavy comedic lifting. By Ryan J. Downey Lindsay Lohan Photo: FilmMagic Following a week of self-deprecating promos and a cold open starring Jason Sudeikis as Mitt Romney and Andy Samberg as Kid Rock, Lindsay Lohan ‘s monologue dove right on top of the white elephant inside New York’s Studio 8H: her troubles. And while the crowd (and cast) was clearly supportive during at the top of the show, the evening’s sketches featured “SNL” regulars doing the comedic heavy lifting. Lohan’s lines were noticeably few. When she did speak, she clearly read from cue cards. But the monologue was a great start. Clad in a form fitting blue dress with a leggy slit, she began: “I feel lucky and grateful to be here tonight and that’s why I really want to thank all of my friends at ‘SNL’ who trusted me enough to have me back. This studio feels like home to me,” then suddenly, a mock “house arrest” style alarm sounded when she started to move. “Wait, so the alarm goes off if I leave the stage? I thought it was if I left the studio!” she said, to supportive laughs. Keenan Thompson was soon by her side, pretending to check her eyes for dilation. Lohan said she could just as easily be checking him, to which he replied, “Oh, I’ll save you the trouble! I’ve been stoned since ‘Good Burger!’ ” Kristen Wiig was out next. “I do get the feeling that everybody thinks I’m going to screw something up,” Lohan told the “Bridesmaids” star. “Everybody believes in you,” Wiig said. “We wouldn’t have you back otherwise.” The audience applauded those lines pretty loudly. Then Wiig immediately pretended to pat the host down, jokingly explaining, “I’m a lesbian now.” “Been there done that,” Lohan replied. As expected, following Lohan’s invitation on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” on Thursday, Fallon made a short, supportive appearance. “The new / old Lindsay Lohan is back!” the “SNL” veteran declared. “Are you sure?” she asked sheepishly. “You’re the same little girl who stole our hearts in ‘The Parent Trap,’ you’re the teenager who dazzled us in ‘Mean Girls,’ ” he said, all to loud cheers. “You’re the lady who absolutely blew us away in ‘The Help.’ ” The last line, of course, was a reference to Emma Stone, who played a dazed and confused Lohan in a 2010 “SNL” sketch. “You can do this,” he added. “And if for any reason you can’t, Jon Hamm is on standby as backup host.” Sure enough, the “Mad Men” star (who was in “Bridesmaids,” and had a recurring role on “30 Rock,” as well) was right there in the audience. While Hamm never stepped in to take over, the early consensus online was that Lohan was given noticeably little to do and relied heavily on cue cards and / or teleprompters. To be fair, the long-running iconic show is famously rewritten and rehearsed until the eleventh hour and many hosts (and castmembers) often read cue cards. The studio crowd seemed to want to support her, but Twitter users were much less forgiving. “This may be the first time Lindsay Lohan had trouble doing lines,” @DrunkEnough said. “The paddling to Comeback Island would be more believable if Lohan didn’t need a teleprompter to remember the plots of her own movies,” tweeted @Shinangovani. A “Real Housewives of Disney” sketch, during which Lohan threw a mean right cross as a Rapunzel who knowingly wasn’t much different than Lohan’s own public persona, mostly killed. But it was followed by a flat “2012 Psychic Awards” bit opposite Bill Hader where her reliance on off-camera lines became extremely clear. Next, Hader, Andy Samberg, Bobby Moynihan and Jason Sudeikis were in their usual roles in a “scared straight” sketch, where Thompson played the prison inmate whose stories are derived from famous movies and whose taunts are filled with increasingly vulgar sexual innuendo. “My name is Lorenzo Macintosh,” Thompson said, with the show’s host beside him. “And I’m Lindsay Lohan,” she replied to much applause, scoring more points with self-deprecation. The “scared straight” sketch had more lines for Lohan than anything else in the episode. There were jokes about spending time in rehab in Malibu and a reference to “Herbie: Fully Loaded,” “Freaky Friday,” “The Parent Trap,” “Mean Girls” and the $2500 necklace she was accused of stealing from an L.A. jewelry store, a violation of her probation from a 2007 driving case. “If you ever think of stealing a diamond,” she warned the trio of young hooligans, “just remember: ‘every kiss begins with rape.’ ” She read all of the lines, flubbing some of them. After Jack White’s first musical segment and a Lohan-less “Weekend Update,” the host returned as part of a group of ’50s style “delinquent teen girls” dancing in a busy street. Fred Armisen, in drag, was the focal point of the sketch. Lohan did more dancing than speaking (though she looked great in her extremely short shorts) and was absent from the night’s first digital short. As the show hit the hour mark, Lohan had appeared only three times since her opening monologue. A sketch about a hip-hop morning radio show in Minnesota included Lohan as “our intern, illiterate Lisa.” Two castmembers played the show’s hosts and another castmember played the “news lady.” Lohan’s character briefly read some incorrect copy (she was “Illiterate Lisa,” after all) but the “SNL” trio handled all of the proverbial heavy lifting as the sketch went on. Next was a pharmaceutical commercial sketch featuring Wiig and Hader. Lindsey was once again nowhere to be found. “East coasters, what’s happening on #SNL? Should I keep practicing and working hard at what I do, or is that not necessary any more?” tweeted Josh Groban. “That awkward moment when you’re hosting #SNL but you aren’t the star of any of the sketches … ” tweeted user @chescaleigh. “Lindsay Lohan hasn’t made me laugh yet,” chimed in culture commentator and New York Times best selling author Toure, also via Twitter. “Can we still replace her with Jon Hamm?” Lohan had a little more to do in a sketch opposite Kristen Wiig, playing it straight to a neck brace-wearing Wiig’s wild antics. But it was clear that she was still reading all of her lines, even studying them during moments where Wiig was performing. The next sketch, a previously aired commercial spoof starring Hader and Armisen, marked yet another Lohan-less moment. The last sketch of the evening was an ensemble bit with Andy Samberg as “Rude Buddha.” Lohan wasn’t required to do much more than ask, “Is there any way that you can help me reach nirvana?” She had been looking to “SNL” to kickstart a career comeback. Earlier in the week, she told Fallon she had begged producer Lorne Michaels to have her back on the show. “Saturday Night Live” has played pivotal roles in Lindsay’s career since she was 17. Former “SNL” head writer and castmember Tina Fey wrote and co-starred in “Mean Girls,” which remains Lohan’s biggest hit aside from “Freaky Friday.” Lindsey made her “SNL” hosting debut the day after “Mean Girls” was released, guesting in a pair of, now classic, sketches. She returned as a surprise guest during a “Weekend Update” segment in December of that year, under a fog of tabloid speculation about her weight loss, love life, medical problems and pop singer aspirations. Two years later, Lohan admitted to Vanity Fair that Fey and “Weekend Update” co-host Amy Poehler had sat her down and expressed concerns for her well being. “I just started bawling,” she told the magazine. “I knew I had a problem and I couldn’t admit it.” In addition to the hard partying regularly followed by the paparazzi, Lohan has been cast and recast in movie projects (including one about ’70s porn star Linda Lovelace) and tangled with the law, including a situation where she was accused of theft after wearing an expensive necklace out of a Venice, California jewelry store. Four years after Lohan made her third hosting appearance on “SNL” in 2006, Emma Stone played her in a sketch that lampooned the young star’s problems. On Thursday’s taped appearance on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” Lohan publicly asked the ex-“SNL” castmember to drop by Studio 8H during the taping. Fallon also played a clip of the sketch that launched Rachel Dratch’s recurring “Debbie Downer” character back in 2004, the same year that “Mean Girls” (written by “SNL” veteran Tina Fey) was in theaters. Fallon famously had trouble keeping a straight face during his time on “SNL” and the inaugural “Debbie Downer” sketch was one for the “breaking” record books. Fallon, Lohan, Amy Poehler, Horatio Sanz and Fred Armisen couldn’t stop laughing during Dratch’s dour one-liners. “I was trying to not to laugh,” Fallon recalled. “I know you were, but it made it worse,” noted Lohan. In an interview with NBC’s ” Today ,” also on Thursday (March 1), Lohan told host Matt Lauer that “I still need to go through the process of proving myself, with ‘SNL,’ being on time, keeping my … stuff together.” She also said she had gotten clearance from her legal team to address her recent troubles on the long-running sketch comedy show. She talked openly about staying clean and sober and called her time doing community service in Los Angeles “humbling” and “a learning experience.” How do you think LiLo performed on “Saturday Night Live?” Share your thoughts and comments below. Related Photos The Highs And Lows Of Lindsay Lohan Related Artists Lindsay Lohan
christina remenyi and addie chown are the two designers behind fortnight lingerie. their undergarments {as i’ve featured here before} are carefully handmade in their studio in toronto, canada. i received an email regarding the release of their video ‘Made in Canada’ and thought i’d share it with you. i love seeing the connection between designer/artist Broadcasting platform : Vimeo Source : Mixed Plate Discovery Date : 02/03/2012 18:40 Number of articles : 2
Bestselling Author & Leading Mind-Body Speaker/Expert Deepak Chopra is interviewed by Fanny Kiefer on Shaw TV’s Studio 4 in Vancouver and discusses the opening of Vancouver’s Chopra Yoga Center http://www.youtube.com/v/hJoH9UWI_qU?version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata See the article here: Deepak Chopra on Studio 4 with Fanny Kiefer Part 1 of 2
Adam Levine was spotted arriving to the TODAY show in New York City. Adam greeted his fans before entering the studio. “Like” us on Facebook @ facebook.com
One bestseller down, another on the way. About two years after the release of ” First Step 2 Forever: My Story ,” Justin Bieber has signed a deal to come out with a second memoir in September. It will be titled “Justin Bieber: Just Getting Started” and it will feature exclusive images and quotes of the singer, as he takes fans behind the scenes of life on the road. “I’m so excited to be working on another book with HarperCollins,” Justin tells Us Weekly . “Being able to share my story with my fans through these books is an absolute privilege. I can’t wait to show them more about my life on tour and in the studio in this next book.” Aside from singing and writing, Bieber is looking to add the title of “producer” to his resume. He played a key role in signing Canadian artist Carly Rae Jespen and even appears in her new music video . [Photo: WENN.com]
Last summer’s Cars 2 marked a notable footnote in the history of Pixar Animation , just not a good one; despite opening to the studio’s sixth-highest worldwide take to date, the sequel to 2006’s Cars earned middling reviews, prompted critics to deem it a commercial cash-grab, and eventually – maybe most shockingly, given the studio’s track record – became the first Pixar film not to nab an Oscar nod for Best Animated Feature since the category was inaugurated. Could it be, as Pixar producer Lindsey Collins suggests, that Cars 2 was Oscar-snubbed because of anti-Pixar backlash? Speaking with press today in Phoenix, Arizona for John Carter , which she produced for longtime Pixar collaborator Andrew Stanton, Collins assessed why Cars 2 was overlooked in favor of five other animated films ( A Cat in Paris , Chico and Rita , Kung Fu Panda 2 , Puss in Boots , and Rango ). “The fact that [ Cars 2 ] was a sequel — in a way it’s funny, because obviously from a franchise standpoint people love sequels,” Collins explained. “And certainly from a franchise standpoint Cars 2 did insanely well, such that we can’t even count it as a good metric to tell us whether or not to do sequels.” Sequel status aside, Collins surmised a larger reason was working against the John Lasseter-directed pic, which was the first Pixar film to earn an overall “rotten” score on Rotten Tomatoes. “I think it had the fact that Pixar has dominated going against it,” she added. “At a certain point there was going to be somebody who was going to take the fall a little bit. It was going to be like, ‘Eh, we don’t like that one.’” Then again, Cars 2 ’s nomination miss could also be chalked up to the relatively deep field of animated films in the running for Oscar this year – many of which surprised Collins and defied her own expectations of the competition. “I see every single one of these things because my kids drag me to them all, and to me it felt like God, there are some great animated films this year. I actually had one of those, ‘There’s two hours of my life that I’m never going to get back’ [thoughts], and then you walk out like, ‘Actually, that was quite good!’” Among the “great pictures” not spawned from Pixar that Collins had praise for? “I loved Rango ,” she admitted. “There were actually some great pictures this year.” As for the cold critical reception and accusations of crass commercialism Cars 2 received, Collins maintains that Lasseter “truly, truly loves” the sequel — and Pixar, she says, supports the films its stable of directors want to make. “John loves that world, he loves those characters. We got accused of being very commercial with it and it’s kind of funny, it’s so ironic because if you’ve met John Lasseter there’s not a disingenuous bone in that man’s body.” Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
