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Cali Swag District Recall Last Moments With M-Bone

‘We was just chilling,’ C-Smoove tells ‘RapFix Live’ of being in the studio with M-Bone the day he was killed. By Alvin Blanco, with reporting by Sway Calloway Cali Swag District on “RapFix Live” Photo: MTV News Cali Swag District just dropped their new album, The Kickback, on Tuesday, following the success of their massive hit “Teach Me How to Dougie.” But the accomplishment is bittersweet since it arrived nearly two months after the murder of Mante “M-Bone” Talbert . The remaining members of the group — Yung, C-Smoove and JayAre — hit MTV News’ “Rap Fix Live” on Wednesday (July 13) and, after refuting rumors that they were involved in M-Bone’s death, talked about the last time they each spoke to their late friend. “We was talking about shoes. I just bought the Cool Greys, the Jordans,” Yung said of his last conversation with M-Bone. “He was like, ‘Man, I can’t find those nowhere, let me buy them from you.’ And I just had bought ’em, and I was like, ‘Nah.’ And [then], I was like, ‘You know what? I don’t even want them.’ But then I was like, ‘No, but I do.’ And then he was like, ‘Fine, I’m just going to go buy them myself.’ So what he did was he went to the store and he bought them and he took a picture of them [and sent it to all of us]. I was like, ‘It’s all good, though. We all got them, so we a team, you feel me?’ I used to tell him that all the time, I used to be like, ‘Yo, we a team, B.’ ” JayAre was playing a video game with his fallen friend the last he saw him alive. “I think the last time we talked, we was playing [NBA 2K11] or something,” JayAre said. “I always got the Lakers, he played with the Heat. He was a Heat fan. I think he won that game that time.” C-Smoove said, “Last time I talked to Bone, he was like, ‘Hey, is Kickback jumping?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, man, we up here.’ He was like, ‘I’m on my way.’ Came to the studio; he came comfortable man — basketball shorts, little Heat jacket, some Nikes or something — he wasn’t even trying to impress nobody. He was just up there chilling in his little giddy-up. He just woke up, drove to the studio. We was just chilling. “And that’s right before he went to the store, man,” Smoove recalled. M-Bone was shot in his car on La Brea Avenue, not far from the Inglewood, California spot Airport Liquor and Groceries. “That was the last time I talked to him.” Smoove’s comment sparked a particularly fond memory for another member of the group. “I remember that whole day too,” Yung said. “I remember we all was at Smoove’s house for his birthday. [M-Bone] pulled up on the side. We all sitting in the cars and stuff, we got girls out there, ’cause we always got girls somewhere. It’s like 20 people, [and] like 19 of them was girls. So we out there, and Bone, he wasn’t there. And he just pulled up in his Camaro and he was like, ‘What’s going on here?!’ I was like, ‘Don’t worry about it; either you with us or you ain’t.’ And he was like, ‘I’m with you.’ So he parked and hopped in the car and then he was with us.” M-Bone’s murder remains unsolved. Share your thoughts on Cali Swag’s “RapFix Live” appearance in the comments. Related Videos ‘RapFix Live’ With Cali Swag District Related Artists Cali Swag District

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Cali Swag District Recall Last Moments With M-Bone

Wyclef To Make Feel Good Music On Next Album

‘I’m just taking my time,’ the former Fugees frontman tells MTV News. By Rob Markman Wyclef Photo: MTV News Wyclef Jean refuses to be boxed in. The rapper/producer may have gotten his start with hip-hop trio the Fugees in the mid-1990s, but he has since branched out, working with artists from multiple genres. From Carlos Santana to Shakira to Bono, ‘Clef has spread his musical wings and crafted hits in various international markets, so fans can expect his next album to encompass a little bit of everything. “My music is always like an iPod, like when you put on an iPod. It’s just you could never define me or put me in a box,” Wyclef told MTV News last week while he was in Orlando, Florida, performing at a Zumba fitness convention . ‘Clef’s sound has mostly been centered on the dance floor. With the Fugees, he produced “Ready or Not” and “Fu-Gee-La”; with Shakira, he gave fans “Hips Don’t Lie”; and with Destiny’s Child, it was “No, No, No.” Wyclef’s 1997 solo debut, The Carnival, featured the Bee Gees-sampling “We Trying to Stay Alive,” and for his upcoming ninth solo album, the Preacher’s Son wants to continue to keep things upbeat. Wyclef’s new single “La Historia” was handpicked by Zumba fitness founder and choreographer Alberto “Beto” Perez. The Latin-inspired song is used in Zumba classes across the world and will set up his next release. “The album is going to be called Feel Good Music and I’m just taking my time,” ‘Clef revealed. “My albums, you have to listen to them from beginning to end. It’s going to be like a stage play, but it’s definitely gonna feel good.” What do you think Wyclef’s next album will sound like? Share your thoughts in the comments! Related Artists Wyclef Jean

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Wyclef To Make Feel Good Music On Next Album

Bow Wow Excluded From His Daughter’s Birth Certificate

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The plot between Bow Wow and the mother of his child, video model Joie Chavis, thickens as more drama is revealed to the world. According to TMZ , Joie decided to exclude Bow Wow’s name from the birth certificate of their child, Shai, since he did not show up to the hospital during the birth of their daughter after Joie had to undergo an emergency c-section back in April. In fact, it is reported that Bow Wow didn’t show up until six days after the baby was born! Joie is also stating that Bow Wow is a fake, and is acting like he’s a devoted dad from the open letter he wrote to his fans earlier this week but was absent during their daughter’s birth. Although she obvisouly seems to have ill feelings toward the rapper, it’s reported that Joie is willing to move on and let the courts name Bow Wow as baby Shai’s father, legally, although that will be up to the discretion of the judge. SMH. Every girl needs a father in their life! I hope everything works out for Bow Wow, Joie and their daughter! Read more here. Bow Wow Opens Up To Russell Simmons About Suicidal Thoughts Bow Wow’s Open Letter: “I Want My Daughter With Me, But There’s Baby Mama BS” Bow Wow’s Mom Tweets About Her New Granddaughter

Bow Wow Excluded From His Daughter’s Birth Certificate

Nicki Minaj Bubbles In ‘Where Them Girls At’ Video

David Guetta is ‘a crazy scientist’ in Nothing But the Beat clip. By Akshay Bhansali David Guetta in his music video for “Where Them Girls At” Photo: EMI Music France Garnering over 12.5 million views online in just over a week, crossover beatsmith and global touring DJ David Guetta’s video for “Where Them Girls At” — his latest pop-radio charting single featuring rapper Flo Rida and Nicki Minaj — intentionally or not builds on a previous clip from his album One Love. In Guetta’s video for “Gettin’ Over You,” fans might remember a back-alley dance-off with Fergie, LMFAO and the Jabbawockeez crew in which the music emanating from a studio session unites the neighborhood in the spirit of house music and Guetta’s “one love” mantra. With his video for “Where Them Girls At,” Guetta means to have a more dramatic effect: spreading his unifying gospel not just to one neighborhood, but across the entire city of Los Angeles. The video features the French producer perched high on top of a roof emitting enormous bubbles across L.A. Passersby on the streets watch curiously as the bubbles float about them, but rapper Flo Rida is the first to observe a sunbathing poolside beauty come in physical contact with one: Immediately, as if puppeteered by Guetta himself, she begins to dance frantically. When MTV News caught up with Guetta recently, he explained, “The idea behind the ‘Where Them Girls At’ video is me being kind of a crazy scientist on the rooftop on my own and making bubbles. “Every time they are touching someone, the person becomes totally crazy and starts to do those crazy dance moves,” he continued. “So basically, the bubbles represent the music and the love that I’m trying to give to the world.” A blond Minaj, in a club setting, seems to be another conduit for Guetta’s dance-inducing bubbles, swallowing up a big one and releasing smaller bubbles throughout her verse. Citizens across the City of Angels all begin to cut a rug, and toward the end of the clip, we see just how the mad scientist is releasing his concoction: A bevy of beauties pour soapy water into a hybrid bubble-making DJ setup seemingly straight out of “Back to the Future.” David Guetta’s next album, Nothing But the Beat, — set for an August 30 release — will be a double disc featuring a string of Guetta’s big-name friends, including Usher, Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, Ludacris, Taio Cruz, Timbaland, Sia and Jennifer Hudson, in addition to Flo Rida and Nicki Minaj. Share your thoughts on David Guetta’s new video in the comments below! Related Artists David Guetta Nicki Minaj Flo Rida

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Nicki Minaj Bubbles In ‘Where Them Girls At’ Video

Lenny Kravitz Reads Up On ‘Hunger Games’ Character

The rocker says he’s on the second book of Suzanne Collins’ trilogy, preparing himself to play stylist Cinna. By Terri Schwartz, with reporting by James Montgomery Lenny Kravitz Photo: MTV News “The Hunger Games” has an impressive cast of new talent, unknowns and renowned stars that puts any franchise movie to shame, but one of the most surprising casting decisions made by director Gary Ross was to choose rocker Lenny Kravitz to play stylist Cinna . When MTV News caught up with Kravitz to chat about his forthcoming album, Black and White America (due out August 30), he said he’s finally read the first of Suzanne Collins’ “Hunger Games” trilogy. Cinna — whose name often gets misinterpreted as “Sinner” when Kravitz says it, he told us — is one of the most significant secondary characters throughout the “Hunger Games” trilogy. The brilliant costumes he creates for leading lady Katniss Everdeen before the games help give her the confidence that she needs to get through a televised battle-to-the-death with 23 other teens. And his very subtle form of rebellion against the oppressive Capitol is not without consequences. Since he is still only partway through the second novel “Catching Fire,” Kravitz has heard only hints of what would happen to his character in a potential second movie. “People have told me, but I’m on the second one now, so don’t tell me how …” Kravitz said, cutting off any spoilers. “The Hunger Games” will be Kravitz’s second big-screen acting performance after 2009’s “Precious.” When asked how he is preparing for what may end up being quite a dramatic scene in the movie’s sequel, Kravitz simply replied, “I’ll do it as best as I can.” When Kravitz was announced as Cinna, MTV’s Hollywood Crush blog caught up with several “Hunger Games” experts to hear their thoughts on the casting decision. Most of them were behind it, but the main concern was whether the singer had the acting chops for the performance. “I guess the real question people have is, you know, what acting experience does Lenny Kravitz have? I’m confident that he can pull it off and do a really fantastic job,” “Hunger Games” Fireside chat host Adam Spunberg said. “He certainly looks the part, at least in my mind, how I pictured Cinna,” “Hunger Games” Examiner Sara Grundell said. “Lenny Kravitz totally fits that mental image I had. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” Check out everything we’ve got on “The Hunger Games.” For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com . Related Photos ‘Hunger Games’ Cast Additions Related Artists Lenny Kravitz

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Lenny Kravitz Reads Up On ‘Hunger Games’ Character

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Cobra Starship’s ‘You Make Me Feel …’ Video: A Party With Heart

On the set of the new clip, Gabe Saporta explains how a magic photo booth tells a universal story. By James Montgomery Cobra Starship’s Gabe Saporta on the set of the “You Make Me Feel” music video Photo: MTV News Cobra Starship ‘s brand-new “You Make Me Feel …” video is most definitely a party, one packed with beautiful people (various members of the NYC glitterati, a rather confused MTV News journalist, a mightily bearded Robin Williams) and practically bursting at the seams with booze-fueled hookups and assorted Spandex getups. But when MTV News showed up on the set of the video last month, the guys in Cobra Starship were eager to explain that “You Make Me Feel …” is much more than an ode to bottle-popping excess. It’s actually about frontman Gabe Saporta’s quest to find his soul mate — up-and-coming singer Sabi — in the dwindling hours of a New York night. With the help of a magical photo booth. Or something like that. “It’s a song about a guy and a girl, and the concept is, at the beginning of the video, I find one of Sabi’s photos, and she’s feeling the same way that I’m feeling, which is incomplete without each other,” Saporta said. “We’re sharing feelings, and that’s what I realize, so I’m like, ‘Wow, I want to find this girl.’ So I look all over the world for her, and our world is the nightclub. … The video is about the photo booth. It’s just not any photo booth; it’s a photo booth that tells you how you’re really feeling. That’s the main star of the video.” “It’s a party,” guitarist Ryland Blackinton added, “but it’s a very tender party at times.” So, yes, in short, it’s a party video loaded with cameos from the likes of Williams (and his daughter, Zelda), DJ duo Andrew Andrew, Just Jared blogger Jared Eng, and yes, this writer. But Saporta also said that he wrote the song — and a whole lot of Cobra’s upcoming Night Shades album — after going through some serious personal problems of his own. So it’s a party anthem with a heart. “Obviously, some of my personal drama was about feeling alone, and feeling like I was searching the world for the right person,” he said. “And one of the things we want for this song and this record — even though it has personal stuff in it — is to be something everyone can relate to, and I think that the concept of people trying to find the right person is something that’s universal.” Of course, he’s far less serious about the name of the album itself. Sure, it came from personal experiences too, but it’s also inspired by the family of flowering plants known as Solanaceae. “They’re the family of nightshades, and the flowers of these vegetables only open up at night, which is how I think of myself,” he laughed. “Like, I wake up at 2 in the afternoon, I’m a vegetable … until I get to flower at night.”

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Cobra Starship’s ‘You Make Me Feel …’ Video: A Party With Heart

Beyonce’s 4 Cheat Sheet: Everything You Need To Know

Long-awaited album finally hit stores Tuesday. By Jocelyn Vena Beyonc

Evanescence’s New Album ‘All Over The Place,’ Amy Lee Says

Follow-up to The Open Door, due October 4, ‘smacks you right in the face,’ singer says. By James Montgomery Evanescence’s Amy Lee Photo: Getty Images Amy Lee is having a hard time talking about Evanescence’s upcoming album , partially because she’s out of practice — it’s been a while since the band’s frontwoman has had to run the press gauntlet, after all — but mostly because she keeps using words like “fun” to describe it. And even she realizes how odd that seems. “I can’t give a good quote about it, because it’s probably the heaviest record we’ve ever done, but we’re having a great time making it,” the singer said, laughing. “I don’t want to say the word ‘fun,’ but it is … it’s totally fun. We’re just going for it. So I don’t want to say that it’s ‘expressing the pain of a thousand sorrows,’ because it’s not that. I mean, it’s just more mature; it’s just a great record. It’s hard to sum it up.” Of course, she’s quick to add that “fun” doesn’t necessarily mean “silly or poppy.” “It doesn’t translate right … I’m having fun; we’re all having fun,” she explained, “And there are moments where you can hear that.” But Lee will be the first one to admit that, when Evanescence return in October with their first album in five years, they’ll be a very different beast indeed. Case in point: the first single, which, though she won’t reveal the title, is one she feels comfortable describing as a definite departure for the band. “It’s really different for us. It doesn’t sound like any Evanescence track you’ve heard before,” she said. “It’s heavy, but the melodies and stuff, I feel like I just did what I wanted. I just literally sang what I wanted to sing, because it was fun and it kind of made me smile, and that ended up being the really fun, cool, catchy thing that got everybody hooked on it.” And though it’s different, Lee knows that there’s plenty riding on the band’s comeback single, which is why, even if she was smiling when she recorded it, the song’s still got plenty of the band’s trademark growl, too. And the same goes for the album. “You always have to think about that. We have to go through making the decisions with the label, and see what they’re going to push,” she explained. “We don’t get to do whatever we want all the time, so the single has to sound like a hit. But, for us, we want more than that. “There’s a lot I want to get across all at once, before I lose anybody’s attention. So, the song that I think is the first single is the song that wraps it all up. It’s got a cool meaning, a lot of great lyrics going on, it also just smacks you right in the face and it’s heavy and it’s great … I think that there’s a couple songs that meet that same criteria.” To that end, though she (accidentally) uses words like “fun” to describe it, the new Evanescence album might just be the next logical step for the band: The same themes are there, but for the first time in her career, Lee is writing about them (and herself) in new ways. At the end of the day, as has always been the case, catharsis is key. “There are themes of brokenness, the quest for freedom, and then there’s songs that are just about falling in love … it’s just all over the place,” she said, laughing. “There’s this beautiful song that — it’s definitely going to make the album, or I will kill someone — it’s not like a single or anything, it’s just this epic album track that’s about loss from the perspective of someone losing someone in a tragedy, and it’s really cool to listen back to that, too. “That’s not something I did on The Open Door. The Open Door was all about me and my personal experiences. And there’s some moments on this one that are actually taken from things that I watched go down, from my friends and stuff like that. But really, whatever makes me feel the most, that’s what’s on the record, because that’s what I need to get off my chest.” Are you excited for the new Evanescence album? Share your thoughts in the comments below! Related Artists Evanescence

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Evanescence’s New Album ‘All Over The Place,’ Amy Lee Says

‘Mission: Impossible 4’ Is ‘Intense,’ Katie Holmes Says

Mrs. Tom Cruise says ‘Ghost Protocol’ is ‘the best ‘Mission’ yet.’ By Kara Warner Katie Homes & Guillermo Del Toro Photo: MTV News While we’ve been awaiting an official trailer for “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” — which is said to drop in front of this week’s “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” — a French version leaked online Monday (June 27), and reportedly contains plenty of expected shots of Tom Cruise involved in crazy action sequences as super-spy Ethan Hunt. Since we have yet to see the trailer or any footage ourselves, when MTV News caught up with Cruise’s better half, Katie Holmes, Monday during the press day for “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” we asked if she’s seen any of the film yet. “I have. I had an advanced screening,” she said with a laugh, adding that it’s a perk of being married to the film’s star. As for her thoughts about Cruise’s death-defying stunts in the film, particularly those he performed atop Dubai’s Burj Khalifa (the world’s tallest building), Holmes turned the question over to Guillermo del Toro, who produced “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.” “What did you think, Guillermo, about the Burj?” she asked him. “I love it!” he said, at which point they both agreed that Cruise’s stunts were scarier than their film, which revolves around the demonic activities of a group of terrifying little creatures that seek out and kill humans, particularly children. “It’s amazing,” Holmes continued. “The movie is going to be very cool and intense and the best ‘Mission’ yet.” The actress also mentioned that she’d be game for a role that required a few crazy stunts herself. “I think it sounds fun,” she said. Del Toro then chimed in with his own “Mission: Impossible Diaries,” so to speak: “I live ‘Mission: Impossible.’ It’s what I call my diet,” he joked, and then proceeded to hum the “Mission: Impossible” theme song, while miming his insatiable appetite, making Holmes burst out laughing. Holmes weighed-in: “I have a lot of ‘Mission: Impossible’ moments, just being a mom.” Del Toro agreed: “Yes, coping with the home front.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com .

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‘Mission: Impossible 4’ Is ‘Intense,’ Katie Holmes Says