Late rapper Heavy D is the subject an hour-long documentary that is set to air this Sunday. The doc, Be Inspired : The Life of Heavy D features interviews from names like Mary J. Blige to Will Smith as they rememeber their experiences with Heavy D. Queen Latifah, Brett Ratner, MC Lyte, and several other stars and family members share stories about Heavy. It will also include vintage performances. Be Inspired: The Life of Heavy D is slated to premiere this Sunday, February 26th at 11pm EST on Centric TV.
Producer talks to MTV News about collaborating with award-winning composer Hans Zimmer. By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Ricky Louis Pharrell Williams Photo: MTV News This Sunday, super producer Pharrell Williams and Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer will show the world what they’ve been cooking up since the December announcement they would join forces as the musical consultants for the 84th Academy Awards . “You know, Hans called me and he said that [Oscars Producer] Brian Grazer had asked him to come on as a consultant and effectively score the music or whatever,” he explained to MTV News. “And Hans was like, ‘I can’t do that. … I’d do that if like I had, like, Pharrell.’ [Grazer’s] like, ‘OK, get Pharrell on the phone.’ That’s the story he told me. I got the call from Hans and he told them he wanted to do it with me, and so I pleasantly accepted and we’ve just been working ever since.” While Pharrell wanted to keep the collaboration as top-secret as possible, he did give some insight into what the two have in store for the big night, which will be hosted by Billy Crystal. “Well, you’re gonna have to watch the show and see, we can’t give it away. That’s what’s so funny about interviews. They always want to know what you’re about to do,” he explained. “It’s like some of us love you know music and art that blindsides, comes out of nowhere with a crazy impact. And then sometimes you talk about things because you want to warm up the feeling before the huge impact. “But this is another one of those things where we keep things under wraps,” he continued. “But it’s cool; it’s interesting; it’s very different. Definitely there’s an homage to the tradition of how the music was done traditionally. … [but] we’re different, and when given an opportunity and it’s our opportunity, Hans and I agreed we just would do it from the perspective of people who love music and love making music and respect it, giving back to what gave us so much, which is music and film.” The MTV Movies team has the 2012 Oscars covered! Stick with us for everything you need to know leading up to the awards show, and on Sunday, February 26, tune into MTV.com at 5 p.m. ET for our two-and-a-half-hour red-carpet live stream and updates on the night’s big winners. To join the live conversation, tweet @MTVNews with the hashtag #Oscars. Related Photos 2012 Oscar Nominees Related Artists Pharrell Williams
Join Josh Horowitz and Christina Garibaldi with your favorite celebs, starting 5 p.m. Sunday on MTV.com. By Kevin P. Sullivan Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images MTV News has been your go-to source for everything Oscars leading up to the big night, and when it comes time to hand out the Academy Awards, we’ll be right in the center of the action to bring you what you need. MTV News’ Josh Horowitz and Christina Garibaldi will come to you live from the red carpet outside the Kodak Theater this Sunday, February 26, talking to the stars, bringing you the fashion and celebrating all things Oscars. The live stream from the red carpet will begin on MTV.com at 5 p.m. ET/ 2 p.m. PT and run right up until the beginning of the ceremony at 7:30 p.m. ET. To join the live conversation, tweet @MTVNews with the hashtag #Oscars to share your thoughts and ask questions of your favorite celebs. During the two and a half hours of coverage, you’ll be sure to hear from not only the nominees, but the rest of Hollywood’s biggest stars. MTV News will be your one-stop shop for the biggest stars on Hollywood’s biggest night. In the weeks leading up to the Academy Awards, MTV News has had everything you need to know heading into Oscar night. Every day, we will be bringing you new predictions and analysis of the awards show and giving you all the inside info to take home the pot in your Oscar pool. It all starts live on MTV.com at 5 p.m. ET/ 2 p.m. PT. The MTV Movies team has the 2012 Oscars covered! Stick with us for everything you need to know leading up to the awards show, and on Sunday, February 26, tune into MTV.com at 5 p.m. ET for our two-and-a-half-hour red-carpet live stream and updates on the night’s big winners. To join the live conversation, tweet @MTVNews with the hashtag #Oscars. Related Videos 2011 Oscars Red Carpet Interviews Related Photos 2011 Academy Awards Red Carpet
Deadmau5, crazy strobe lights, loud music, maybe an adult beverage or two…sounds like a good time to us! Money going to charity…even better!!! Deadmau5 headlined a post-Grammy concert on Sunday to benefit Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Trust us…it was a good time!
Rihanna performed at a charity concert for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The performance was held the night of the Grammy Awards, and was headlined by Deadmau5. If you think the video is a bit short, Rihanna only performed for 7 minutes that night…and we can’t show ya the whole thing!!!
Preliminary ratings put Sunday’s show as second highest-rated Grammys ever. By Gil Kaufman Jennifer Hudson performs a tribute to Whitney Houston at the Grammys on Sunday Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images Sunday night’s 54th annual Grammy Awards were a ratings smash thanks to the televised return of the night’s big winner, Adele , as well as a thrilling tribute to Whitney Houston by singer Jennifer Hudson . In fact, the performance-packed three-and-a-half broadcast scored the second-highest rating in history for the show, second only to the 1984 eight-trophy coronation of Michael Jackson for his landmark Thriller album. According to preliminary ratings from Nielsen that combine live viewing with DVR figures, 39.9 million viewers tuned in to the show, putting the telecast behind the 51.67 million who watched the 1984 program. The dramatic ratings uptick followed two years in which the numbers were clustered in the 25 million to 26 million range after what Billboard reported were five years of low-20-million numbers. The show boasted a 14.1 rating among adults 18-49, a 41 percent increase in that demo over last year and the best ratings returns since 1990. Those viewers were rewarded with a diverse roster of performers that ranged from rock icon Paul McCartney performing twice, to the Foo Fighters , a tribute to electronic dance music , Taylor Swift , Nicki Minaj , Chris Brown and Rihanna . The night’s emotional highlight was a stirring tribute to Houston — who died Saturday at the age of 48 — by Hudson, who performed Whitney’s most iconic song, a cover of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.” The other major buzz moment was the return to the stage of Adele, who sang at a major industry event for the first time on Sunday after career-saving vocal-cord surgery last November. Stick with MTV News all for all the Grammy red-carpet fashion , Grammy winners and performance recaps until the hangover wears off! Related Videos 2012 Grammy Awards Show Highlights Related Photos 2012 Grammy Awards: Press Room Related Artists Adele Jennifer Hudson Whitney Houston
The Recording Academy’s chair emeritus weighs in on this year’s biggest Grammy controversy. By James Montgomery Kanye West Photo: Flanigan/ Getty Images LOS ANGELES — First and foremost, Jimmy Jam is best known as one-half of the most successful production duos on the planet, working with cohort Terry Lewis to amass a string of 16 #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 for the likes of Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and Usher. But over the years, Jam has also become known for his work with the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, where he currently serves as chair emeritus. Of course, NARAS is the organization that hands out the Grammy Awards , so when MTV News spoke with Jam on Friday night’s MusiCares red carpet, we figured there was no one better to weigh in on this year’s biggest Grammy controversy : the odd (and some would say inexcusable) absence of Kanye West ‘s universally acclaimed My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in the Album of the Year category. And Jam wasn’t afraid to address the issue. He’ll be the first to admit that sometimes the Grammy voters make, uh, interesting choices when it comes to nominations. He thinks he knows what happened in Kanye’s case: He actually put out two really great albums during the eligibility period. “I was a little surprised that it did not get nominated,” Jam said. “But it happens a lot of times when you have two really great records, and by the way, Watch the Throne is a great album on it’s own. Sometimes the votes split, and that may have been what happened.” Of course, there are some who believe that the My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy AOTY snub had less to do with vote splitting and more to do with the Grammys’ dislike for West and his antics. But Jam wants to let everyone know that’s simply not the case. In fact, he’s one of the rapper’s biggest supporters. To him, this was simply a matter of bad timing. Nothing more, nothing less. “It’s interesting, because we don’t really tabulate the votes … it goes to a separate place [the auditing firm of Deloitte]. We don’t touch that stuff,” Jam said. “So a lot of times, [we’re] very surprised by what the nominations actually end up being. I think Kanye’s record is one of the best records of the year, but sometimes it’s just timing.” Chaos! Profanity! Wardrobe malfunctions! Don’t miss our Grammy red-carpet live stream this Sunday, February 12, for a full three hours of mayhem, starting at 5 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And the fun doesn’t end Sunday: MTV News has you covered for all the Grammy red-carpet fashion , Grammy winners and Grammy news until the hangover wears off! Related Videos A Guide To The Grammys 2012 Related Photos 2012 Grammy Performers 2012 Grammy Nominees 2012 Grammy Awards Pre-Parties Related Artists Kanye West Jimmy Jam
Singer’s hair colorist tells MTV News that she’s hoping Perry will want to keep her locks blue for the big show. By Jocelyn Vena Katy Perry Photo: Theo Wargo/ Getty Images is currently rocking turquoise blue hair (after initially shocking the world with a deeper blue hue back in January). Considering she’s not only up for two awards at the Grammy Awards on Sunday but is also hitting the stage for what’s sure to be a colorful, candy-coated performance, Perry could be showing off a completely different hair color this weekend. To get the scoop on what color hair Perry might be donning when she hits the red carpet at the Grammy Awards, we asked her longtime hair colorist, Rita Hazan. “I’m kind of feeling the blue right now, so I’m hoping we’re gonna be on that same page because I really think it’s really hot and it’s working for her,” she told MTV News. “So I’m assuming that we’re going to be staying with the blue for the Grammys, but you never know. “The night before it could be a whole different story,” she continued, laughing. “It depends, maybe she gets a dress she wants to match her hair to, but I feel like she’s going to rock the blue and find a dress to match the hair, which I absolutely love about her.” Hazan and Perry are quite the hair-color scientists. The blue hair was only the latest “vision” the twosome has dreamed up for the always up-for-anything Perry. “The thing with Katy, she has a feeling, she follows her gut, her instinct and she’s very fashion, she’s trendy, but that’s really naturally who she is,” Hazan said. “She doesn’t try to do anything, she just does it and it works for her and I think because she’s such an iconic girl, people just want to copy and do whatever she does. “With Katy, you never know. Between her and myself we get these crazy middle-of-the-night visions,” she continued. “You never know what happens. I just think watch out, something’s going to happen next and I don’t even know what it is.” Perry aside, Hazan thinks that everyone who attends the show is going to step up their game and go all-out when it comes to their hair. “I think that people are going to be a little bit over-the-top and extravagant,” she said. “I don’t think it’s going to be very calm or pretty hair. I think people are going to go for it.” Chaos! Profanity! Wardrobe malfunctions! Don’t miss our Grammy red-carpet live stream this Sunday, February 12, for a full three hours of mayhem, starting at 5 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And the fun doesn’t end Sunday: MTV News has you covered for all the Grammy red-carpet fashion , Grammy winners and Grammy news until the hangover wears off! Related Videos A Guide To The Grammys 2012 Related Photos 2012 Grammy Performers Related Artists Katy Perry
‘I think we go on right after Chris Brown or something, and I don’t want to dance after Chris Brown has been dancing,’ Dave Grohl says. By James Montgomery Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl and Nate Mendel Photo: Peter Wafzig/ Getty Images LOS ANGELES — One of the oddest moments during Sunday’s 54th Grammy Awards might have nothing to do with Adele not winning everything. It could very well end up being the recently announced tribute to electronic music, a performance that will bring together David Guetta, Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, Deadmau5 and, uh … Foo Fighters . And though one of those things is most certainly not like the other, the combination just doesn’t seem all that bizarre to Foos frontman Dave Grohl. He’s learned firsthand that the gap between rock and electronica isn’t all that wide, as he told MTV News on the red carpet at Friday night’s pre-Grammy MusicCares concert. “Well, Deadmau5 is maybe the only EDM artist I know because we did a bunch of festivals over the summer, and for whatever reason, he would be headlining over there while we were headlining over here,” he said. “I guess people thought that our audiences would split, but our audiences are compatible in a way, because what he does … rocks. “The remix that he did for [Foos’ single] ‘Rope’ is really good, and it’s clever; it’s not just some bullsh– dance sh–,” he continued. “He actually did a rearrangement … so when we were asked to perform with him, we said OK.” And though Grohl wouldn’t divulge any details of what may happen during the Foos’ brief excursion into electro (“I think you have to call it ‘EDM’,” he pointed out), he did let us know what won’t : namely, dancing of any sort. “What do you think, I’m going to f—ing dance? ” he laughed. “When we got asked to do it, I said, ‘I can’t do it. I can’t dance.’ I think we go on right after Chris Brown or something, and I don’t want to dance after Chris Brown has been dancing. Nobody can dance like that guy.” Chaos! Profanity! Wardrobe malfunctions! Don’t miss our Grammy red-carpet live stream this Sunday, February 12, for a full three hours of mayhem, starting at 5 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And the fun doesn’t end Sunday: MTV News has you covered for all the Grammy red-carpet fashion , Grammy winners and Grammy news until the hangover wears off! Related Videos A Guide To The Grammys 2012 Related Photos 2012 Grammy Rehearsals 2012 Grammy Awards Pre-Parties 2012 Grammy Performers Related Artists Foo Fighters
‘Just to be nominated and have the chance to have one is incredible,’ he tells MTV News. By Kelley L. Carter, with reporting by Kelly Marino J. Cole Photo: C Brandon/ Redferns As confident as J. Cole sounds in his music, he’s not so sure if he’ll take home the Best New Artist trophy at Sunday’s Grammys . When the rapper and Jay-Z prot
