Nelly Furtado
Photo: George Pimentel/WireImage

Nelly Furtado may have found commercial success with her last album, Loose, thanks to hits like "Maneater" and "Promiscuous," but the Canadian songstress found that while working on her follow-up, Mi Plan, she preferred writing songs in Spanish over English.

"I think that sometimes I'm limited when I write in English, but I found a real freedom writing in Spanish," she told MTV News. "It felt really different. It made me excited about pop again."

She added that she wanted to abandon the dance-pop vibe of her last record and try a different sound. "I think after Loose I was kind of bored of writing English pop songs. I'd go to the studio and try and write in English, but the inspiration wasn't really coming. My creative well felt really dry."

Instead of abandoning the idea of making another album altogether, she decided to just abandon the English language. "So I went to the Spanish stuff and I don't know ... it just kept coming," she explained. "Every day we'd write a new song and it led me to this river and basically an ocean."

According to Furtado, Mi Plan has been a real "musical journey." "I got to work with all these exciting artists from the Latin world ... I try to learn something with each album, like anybody that has a job. And for me as a musician, my job is to get better as a musician — so on this fourth album, I got a lot more skills."

• MTV News RAW: Nelly Furtado

• Nelly Furtado

Nelly Furtado
Photo: MTV News

Nelly Furtado is embracing her Latin roots on her new album, Mi Plan, out September 15. The Portuguese-Canadian songstress felt that now was as good a time as any to release her newest album and this time do it all in Spanish.

"Everything I do is natural," she told MTV News about the decision to make the album in the language. "As an artist, I always follow my gut. I don't really follow commercial trends or sales trends. I just kind of go with what's right for me as an artist and what is going to keep me happy and healthy, so Mi Plan is like the next phase."

The singer also thought the language was the right one for this album to best express her current place in life. And for her single "Manos al Aire," "It just felt right for me to write in Spanish. It felt good," she said. "It felt like I could express other emotions."

"Manos al Aire" is in some ways about surrendering (the translation is "hands in the air"), and the emotion behind the song could only be expressed in Spanish, Furtado said. "It's intense and it's vulnerable and strong at the same time," she said. "And I think when I sing about those emotions in Spanish, they come off differently. I don't think I could write an English song about such a complex emotion."

For her album, she also wanted to cater to people who may not understand Spanish, so the singer took it upon herself to include subtitles with the album. "I included subtitles for people that don't speak Spanish, and I included subtitles for people that only speak Spanish as well, so they might want to know the lyrics in English."

• MTV News RAW: Nelly Furtado

• Nelly Furtado

Nelly Furtado
Photo: MTV News

Nelly Furtado burst onto the scene almost a decade ago with her Grammy-winning hit song "I'm Like a Bird." Then she became somewhat of a pop princess in 2006 with the Timbaland-produced Loose.

Three years later, she's back and once again reinvented herself. Furtado is releasing her new album, Mi Plan, on September 15, and it's her first foray into singing solely in Spanish. Although she sang in English, Portuguese and Spanish on her past three albums, this time around she found a new voice by writing songs entirely in Spanish. The first single, "Manos al Aire" came out in June, and she feels this is just one step in her evolution into the type of artist who could happily grow old in the industry.

"I've always sung in, well, three languages for the past five years," she told MTV News about her work. "I've been singing in Portuguese and English since I was 2 years old, so I really love being a universal artist. I love being a world artist, so it's just my next step really. The Spanish project is just my next step to get to [being] 80 years old onstage, singing something. This is my next step in the puzzle."

She described this piece in her musical puzzle as being "liberating." "Mi Plan is my first album entirely in a Latin language," she said. "My past three albums have had 80 percent English and 20 percent Latin language, either Portuguese or Spanish. The fourth record is 100 percent Spanish."

Since the release of Loose three years ago, Furtado married sound engineer Demacio "Demo" Castellón and continued to raise her young daughter, Nevis. So, what else would a newlywed young mother have to sing about but love?

"The songs are all about amor. They are all about love, and it's my first album with more love songs," she explained. "They're really like songs that everybody can relate to about love and life and everyday living, just the things you go through. So basically, I found that once I started writing songs in Spanish, I had a new voice."

• MTV News RAW: Nelly Furtado

• Nelly Furtado

Nelly Furtado and husband Demacio Castellon
Photo: George Pimentel/ WireImage

Nelly Furtado revealed to "Entertainment Tonight Canada" that she married sound engineer Demacio "Demo" Castellon over the summer. "We got married July 19. I love it," she said, according to People.com.

The couple met in 2006 while she was recording her album Loose. Furtado, who has a 5-year-old daughter from a previous relationship with DJ Jasper Gahunia, got engaged to Castellon last July. The 29-year-old, who also makes a cameo in this weekend's video game turned film "Max Payne," put the marriage rumor mill in motion when she was spotted wearing a diamond ring in Miami.

"It's a nice phase of my life," the singer said on the Canadian TV show. "I just feel kind of free and relaxed and more in tune with trying not to be so stressed out. [I'm] trying to enjoy things a little more."

During an interview with People.com in July of last year, Furtado explained why she and Gahunia never married. "I'm kind of modern. I don't really live by society's standards. Maybe in the next five years I'll get married, have more kids," she said. "One grandmother had eight kids, the other had 10. If I have that many kids, then I would need a hubby."

In February, tabloid reports surfaced that she and Castellon were expecting, but a representative for the singer denied the rumors on UsMagazine.com.

In her most recent interview, she didn't address whether she and Castellon are planning on having children anytime soon. "I'm happy. ... I'm excited about the future," Furtado said.

• Nelly Furtado

"Celebrity Sports Showdown"
Photo: EA

The wait to discover who can paddle a canoe faster — Fergie or Nelly Furtado — is almost over.

The eternal debate about whether Boston Celtic Paul Pierce can spike a volleyball better than country music sensation LeAnn Rimes or LeAnn Rimes will soon be settled.

Video game publisher Electronic Arts has revealed to MTV News that a new holiday-season Nintendo Wii game, "Celebrity Sports Showdown," will settle these arguments — or at least present a virtual forum with which to do so.

Modeled after the hit "Wii Sports" and developed by the creators of another mini-game compilation, "EA Playground," the new EA title will allow up to four players to control a set of celebrities in activities that range from the bizarre (inner-tubing) to the more bizarre (fighter-jet racing). The game's dozen activities will also include slalom skiing, dodgeball, "smash badminton" and curling, each featuring the aforementioned celebrities, plus soccer star Mia Hamm, country singer Keith Urban or Keith Urban, boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, ice-skater Kristi Yamaguchi and more.

The game is meant to be played by a group of people using a single Wii. It's a party game, starring the A-to-C-list.

How Fergie-like is video game Fergie? Each celebrity appears in big-headed cartoonish form. They look like themselves — Fergie's got the right outfit, down to the tiara — but athletics-wise they're all the same. Fergie is as strong as football player Reggie Bush. Rimes is just as fast as Furtado.

At a recent demonstration of the game for MTV News, an EA representative explained that none of the celebrities would have special abilities. The reason Yamaguchi obliterated Fergie, Pierce and one other celebrity in a race of speedboat-drawn inner tubes? One player knew how to make Yamaguchi avoid mines and hit the proper items for extra points and boosts of speed. It's all in the deft handling of a Wii remote.

Like "Wii Sports" and many other popular games of the type, each game in "Celebrity Sports Showdown" is controlled a little differently. Controlling the inner tubes involves holding the Wii remote at its short end and tilting it to steer. Hoisting then slamming down the remote allows a player to bounce one celebrity's inner tube out of the water and onto another's. The fighter-pilot game, based on the well-received paper-airplane flying game of "Wii Playground," according to one of the games' developers, involves holding the Wii remote vertically like a joystick.

Previous Wii party games, like "Wii Sports" and "Carnival Games," let users control avatars that looked like themselves or anyone else whose likeness they could replicate. Being able to control an officially licensed celebrity instead is new, at least at this scale. One-off celebrity cameos have been common in games at least since the '90s when Bill Clinton was a hidden unlockable baller in "NBA Jam." On Wednesday, EA announced Kim Kardashian as a playable fighter in the company's upcoming "Facebreaker" boxing game.

EA's "Celebrity Sports Showdown" is a Wii exclusive. It's set to ship this holiday season.

Check out the Multiplayer blog, updated daily, for even more gaming coverage.

• 'Celebrity Sports Showdown' Exclusive

• Nelly Furtado
• Fergie

Mariah Carey
Photo: MTV News

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon — that's lovin' you short time, so far. "Lovin' You Long Time" well, that's another story (and Mariah's latest single).

But how is she using the line? And why are so many other multi-culti female singers using a phrase that some consider to be a racist and/or sexist slur? Can the meaning change over time, depending on who is using it and why?

"That phrase is so loaded," said performance artist Allison Roh Park. "People don't understand the history behind that."

"Me love you long time" — how the phrase is typically quoted — came into prominence with Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket," as a Vietnamese prostitute tries to pick up Matthew Modine's character with broken English. The phrase was then popularly picked up by 2 Live Crew in the song "Me So Horny."

"From that point on, it became a hook," said Ryan Suda, who runs clothing company Black Lava.

"It's so many different kinds of slurs in one," comedian Margaret Cho said. "It's instantly putting you in the position of being a foreigner, an outsider and a sexual stereotype. It's an all-in-one combo."

"Asian women get exotified and hyper-sexualized to the point where it really affects our day-to-day life," Park said.

"A lot of times when people use phrases like that, they neglect the background," Suda said. "Like sex trafficking. So if a guy goes up to someone in a bar, and he's using that phrase, and he's imagining that scene for some reason, I'm sure they mean it as a fun thing. I don't think they mean it to be malicious. They know she's not a prostitute. But it's attached to that. It's a lot more than a simple phrase."

But even musicians who lifted the phrase from 2 Live Crew didn't always know they got it from a depiction of a prostitute's pickup line and sometimes wrongly assumed the rappers had coined the phrase all on their own — and were therefore ignorant of the connotations.

"I first heard it in the 2 Live Crew song," said Fergie, who used the phrase in her song "London Bridge." "And then I was watching 'Full Metal Jacket,' and I'm going, 'Ohhhhhh! That's where 2 Live Crew got it. OK.' But back in the day, everybody would be saying that."

And they still do — you hear it in jokes on "Family Guy" and "40-Year-Old Virgin" — but the context keeps changing.

" 'Love you long time' comes out of a fairly stereotypical situation, and it's recycled itself back into the culture," said playwright David Henry Hwang. "Now it's being used as an empowerment phrase, like to deny it — 'I won't love you long time' — or women who take the phrase and use it to assert themselves."

That's what Nelly Furtado was aiming to do when she put the phrase in her song "Maneater."

"That's such a weird song," she said. "It came from this cool, dark, powerful place which all women possess. I guess I just took that and ran with it, because that phrase just came to mind. 'Love you long time' — it just seemed powerful for a woman to possess that much energy. All she has to say is four little words and she's got everybody eating out of the palm of her hand."

Mariah Carey didn't just refer to the oft-quoted line — she built a whole song around it. But she corrects the grammar, so the connotation changes. "Female artists like to play with words," Furtado said. "Missy Elliott did that quite well with 'bitch.' She started saying, 'She's a bitch, I'm a bitch.' And she owned the word. Women should be grateful to her for that. She's a modern-day feminist."

"It's just one of those sayings that's kind of pushed its way into our slang and our vocabulary," Fergie said. "I think it's just part of pop culture now."

There's a clothing line in London called "Love You Long Time" (fashion designer Katy Horwood counts Vanessa Carlton as one of her clients), but to counteract any possible negative interpretation of the use of the phrase in fashion, Suda's Black Lava clothing line sells a shirt that reads "I Will Not Love You Long Time."

"It's definitely one of the more popular shirts, by far," Suda said. "People, when they see it, they just laugh, like, 'Oh my god, I get this all the time! Guys come up to me in bars and they always say this line to me.' "

"I was walking down the street and this guy yells from his car, 'Love you long time, me love you long time,' " Cho related. "And I was so horrified. Of course he's talking to me, to the Asian woman walking down the street. And he left.

"I don't mind it when it's used in songs, like when women use it," Cho continued. "Fergie uses it, that doesn't bother me. But when it's shouted in the street and they don't wait to hear the response? What if I was actually going to go, 'Oh, OK'? They never stick around to hear the answer."

• 'Love You Long Time': The Pop-Culture History

• Nelly Furtado
• Mariah Carey

Ghostface Killah's <I>The Big Doe Rehab</i>
Photo: Island Def Jam

The eight days of Hanukkah begin at sunset Tuesday (December 4), and in commemoration of the holiday, we've lined up the week's eight biggest new releases:

Ghostface Killah's The Big Doe Rehab
December 4 matters more to Ghost than to a lot of the artists dropping new releases this week, mainly because he actually had to put up a fight to keep the date. While he told Mixtape Monday in October that his seventh studio album had been cemented for a December 4 release date "for the longest [time]," he came to discover that the new Wu-Tang Clan album, The 8 Diagrams, had been pegged for the same date. But apparently in an effort to appease Ghost, RZA delayed the latter disc a week — which likely made him as content as he appears on his new CD's album cover. He has most of his fellow Clan along for the ride — RZA's nowhere to be found, though — as well as Beanie Sigel, Chrisette Michele and others on the follow-up to Fishscale, which was widely ranked as one of the best rap releases of 2006.

Wyclef Jean's Carnival II: Memoirs of an Immigrant
Ghost's guest list pales in comparison to Wyclef's, which isn't just longer but runs the gamut in terms of music genres. Mary J. Blige, Lil Wayne, Serj Tankian, T.I., Norah Jones, Akon, Shakira, Chamillionaire and even Paul Simon play a role on the release, which features a bonus big name on pretty much every track. Pick up the deluxe edition for even more guest-star goodness — Weezy, 'Kon, Raekwon and more are featured on some of the extra CD's five additional tracks and three videos. The iTunes version of Carnival II has yet another bonus track, while the Best Buy edition comes with three Rhapsody Original extras.

DJ Drama's Gangsta Grillz: The Album
There's yet another red-hot guest list in the mix this week, and it's the one featured on Drama's long-overdue studio-LP debut. Diddy, Outkast, T.I., Young Jeezy, Lil Jon, Wayne, the Clipse, Yung Joc, Pharrell, Paul Wall and Nelly all piled onto the disc. The effort was delayed a few times due to Drama's much-publicized studio raid earlier this year and controversy over his well-known moniker, which left him time to come up with another banger or two. "What a better time to drop than during the holidays, a week and a half after Thanksgiving?" Drama recently told Mixtape Monday. "I call myself 'Mr. Thanksgiving.' "

Mariah Carey's "The Adventures of Mimi" DVD
Mirroring Justin Timberlake — who released his new "FutureSex/LoveShow - Live From Madison Square Garden" DVD only through Best Buy a couple of weeks ago — Mimi has stepped up with her own exclusive double-DVD release for the chain. Her first video package since 2000's "#1's" collection captures her October 8, 2006, concert in Anaheim, California, with 19 performances, behind-the-scenes clips, a tour documentary, a karaoke-style feature and more.

Nelly Furtado's Loose: The Concert
Furtado is feeling a bit more generous than Carey — the singer is not only releasing her concert set wide, she's also issuing it in both CD and DVD form. The former item finds Furtado running through 11 of her best-known songs while on her recent European and U.S. tours in support of Loose — including "I'm Like a Bird" and "Promiscuous" — while the expanded DVD has her covering Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" and chalking up a bunch more songs, including "Turn Off the Light" and "Powerless." In case fans need even more incentive to grab the DVD instead, it comes with a half-hour's worth of behind-the-scenes video footage with the pop star.

Styles P's Super Gangster (Extraordinary Gentleman)
We've been streaming for free the third solo effort from the D-Block member, a disc that has "Blow Ya Mind" (featuring Swizz Beatz) as its first single. But that's not the only guest P has in tow — he also tapped one of his December 4 competitors, Ghostface, as well as Beanie Sigel, Akon, Jadakiss and others. "I'm just trying to be the MC and come with good, old-fashioned street soul music," he recently told Mixtape Monday of the vibe of the effort, which marks his debut on Koch Records. "I really feel like the '90s era."

Godsmack's Good Times, Bad Times ... Ten Years of Godsmack
The hard-rock band has sold about 11 million albums in the U.S. since it formed 11 years ago, and with a dozen or so singles that rock radio has probably burned into your brain, a greatest-hits collection is only fitting. Also "good timing," so to speak — given Led Zeppelin's recent reunion — is Godsmack's cover of the classic-rockers' "Good Times, Bad Times," which kicks off the 16-song menu. Aficionados will likely want to grab the CD-plus-DVD edition, which features the band performing acoustically at the House of Blues in Las Vegas.

Blake Lewis' Audio Day Dream
Last but not least, the beatboxing "American Idol" alumnus steps up with his first album — for which he claimed to MTV News that he had invented a whole new genre. "I call it '2080,' because it's a mix of all the great pop music that's inspired me," he said of the disc, which blends funk, soul, rock and pop. The sixth-season finalist's album is led by the single "Break Anotha," which was co-written with and produced by Ryan "Alias" Tedder of One Republic, as well as other tracks Tedder helped craft. J.R. Rotem produced and co-wrote "What'cha Got 2 Lose?" with Lewis and fellow "Idol" finalist Chris Richardson, while none other than Lupe Fiasco — who cranks out his own new album, Lupe Fiasco's "The Cool," in a couple of weeks — is featured on "Know My Name."

That's a Rap: Hip-hop heads have a lot on their plate this week — in addition to all the above, there's also a new album from Scarface, Made, that features guest spots from (surprise!) Lil Wayne and T.I. Scarface's last album did well, reaching #12 on the Billboard albums chart and selling more than 300,000 copies, but with hardly any promotion behind his new effort, it's going to be tough for him to score a repeat performance. Also back in stores is Too Short, whose Get Off the Stage is coming under the radar as well — probably because it's the last release he's putting out through Jive. It features E-40, the Pack and more.

There's plenty more bristling on the archival front too, chiefly the new two-part The Best of 2Pac collection. The discs are being sold separately and feature one unreleased song and one new remix apiece: Part 1: Thug has "Resist the Temptation" and a new mix of "Dear Mama" featuring Anthony Hamilton, whose original version was nominated for a Grammy Award; while Part 2: Life contains "Dopefiend's Diner," which finds 2Pac using a vocal sample of the melody line from Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner," and an acoustic remix of "Thugz Mansion."

Mack 10, Fiend and Westside Connection are also getting some love from the vaults with best-of collections, while some of Eazy-E's most memorable guest spots were culled for Featuring Eazy-E. An expanded 20th-anniversary edition of N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton is also hitting stores — with five bonus slices, including a live performance of "Compton's N the House" by Dr. Dre and MC Ren, and covers of Compton tracks by Snoop Dogg, C-Murder, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Mack 10 and WC. And repping newer talent is TVT's Crunk Hits Vol. 4 comp, which has the latest crunk classics by T.I., Lil Jon, Chris Brown and more.

Song Title of the Week:

"Conjunctions, Conjunctions, Everybody Loves Them" from Memphis May Fire's Memphis May Fire

Album Cover of the Week:

Ex-Boyfriends' three different "Clue"-themed covers for In With

Other Notables:

Various artists' "Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis"
In case you weren't privy to the landmark 7/7/07 event, a little guy named Al Gore is trying to raise awareness about a little issue called global warming. Backing him up at the concerts were about 100 of the world's best-known musicians whose performances across the globe were whittled down for the two-hour broadcast captured on this two-DVD/one-CD set. The first video disc spotlights John Legend, Beastie Boys, Black Eyed Peas, Snow Patrol and more; the second one has Rihanna, Foo Fighters and the Smashing Pumpkins, among others; and the CD includes tunes by Madonna, John Mayer, Keane, the Police and others. The net proceeds from the sale of the package go to the Alliance for Climate Protection.

Daft Punk's Alive 2007
The Parisian house duo had a huge year, ruling at Lollapalooza and getting a big boost from Kanye West. Their new live album — the release of which was delayed in the U.S. due to production issues — tries to put all that energy into disc form by immortalizing the act's first show in their hometown in 10 years. The two-disc version comes as a bound book and houses an extra enhanced CD with five songs from Daft Punk's encore, as well as 50 pages of photos and a video of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger," which 'Ye lifted for his song "Stronger."

Lamb of God's Sacrament - Deluxe Producer Edition
Not crazy about the metal titans' latest disc, the genre's top-selling album last year? Well, why not rework it yourself? That's what the guys are offering this week — a version of the disc with the studio tracks isolated, separated and prepared for use on Macs or PCs. Fans can rearrange or mix up the music at their whim, which means they'll have no reason to complain if they're still not happy with songs like "Walk With Me in Hell" and "Foot to the Throat."

New Releases:

· 4 Bonjour's Parties - Pigments Drift Down to the Brook (Mush)
· Aloha - Light Works (Polyvinyl)
· Ben's Brother - Beta Male Fairytales (Virgin)
· Bodies of Water - Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink (Thousand Tongues)
· Bonde do Rolê - Marina Gasolina (EP; Domino)
· Daft Punk - Alive 2007 (limited-edition version comes with bonus CD; Virgin) [Buy Now]
· DJ Drama - Gangsta Grillz: The Album (Atlantic) [Buy Now]
Read: "DJ Drama May Lose His Name, But He'll Always Have Outkast"
· Ex-Boyfriends - In With (Absolutely Kosher)
· Food for Animals - Belly (Hoss)
· Nelly Furtado - Loose: The Concert (Geffen) [Buy Now]
· Ghostface Killah - The Big Doe Rehab (Def Jam [Buy Now]
· Isis - Holy Tears (EP; Ipecac)
· Wyclef Jean - Carnival II: Memoirs of an Immigrant (Best Buy edition comes with three Rhapsody Original bonus tracks; Columbia) [Buy Now]
Read: "T.I. Kick-Starts Wyclef Jean's LP; Mary J. Blige, Akon Tagging Along"
· Blake Lewis - Audio Day Dream (Arista/J) [Buy Now]
Read: "'American Idol' Runner-Up Blake Lewis Creates Own Genre On A.D.D. Debut"
· Memphis May Fire - Memphis May Fire (Trustkill)
· Shane Newville - Formless (Syntax)
· Rademacher - Stunts (self-release)
· Scarface - Made (Asylum) [Buy Now]
· Chris Schlarb - Twilight & Ghost Stories (Asthmatic Kitty)
· Shipwreck - Rabbit in the Kitchen With a New Dress On (None)
· Styles P - Super Gangster (Extraordinary Gentleman) (Koch) [Buy Now]
· Tender Forever - Wider (K)
· Too Short - Get Off the Stage (Jive) [Buy Now]
· Armin van Buuren - Universal Religion 2008: Live From Armada at Ibiza (Ultra)
· Rufus Wainwright - Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall (with DVD; Geffen) [Buy Now]
· Woelv - Tout Seul dans la Forêt en Plein Jour, Avez-Vous Peur? (K)
· The Wreckers - Way Back Home: Live From New York City (with DVD; Warner Bros.)
· Various artists - Night Owls 4 - A Shot in the Dark (Syntax)
· Various artists - To the Fallen Records Presents Country: Volume I and Rock: Volume I (To the Fallen)
· Various artists - "P.S. I Love You" soundtrack (Atlantic)
· Various artists - "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" soundtrack (Columbia)

Notable Reissues and Archival Material:

· 2Pac - The Best of 2Pac: Part I - Thug and Part 2 - Life (Interscope) [Buy Now]
· Trace Adkins - Greatest Hits, Volume II: American Man (Capitol)
· Jason Aldean - Relentless (with bonus "Soundcheck" DVD; available exclusively at Wal-Mart)
· David Bowie - David Bowie Box (10-CD box set; ISO/Columbia) [Buy Now]
· James Brown - The Singles: Volume Four - 1966-1967 (limited-edition two-CD set; Hip-O-Select) [Buy Now]
· Nick Drake - Fruit Tree (box set with three CDs and one DVD; UMe/Fontana) [Buy Now]
· Eagles - Desperado; Eagles Live (two CDs); Eagles Greatest Hits: Volume 2; Hotel California; On the Border; One of These Nights; The Long Run; Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 and the two-CD The Very Best Of (Asylum) [Buy Now]
· Eazy-E - Featuring Eazy-E (Capitol/Priority)
· Fiend - The Best of Fiend: Mr. Whomp Whomp (Capitol/Priority)
· Godsmack - Good Times, Bad Times ... Ten Years of Godsmack (also available with DVD; Republic) [Buy Now]
· Billie Holiday - Rare Live Recordings 1935-1959 (five-CD box set; ESP Disk Ltd.)
· Lamb of God - Sacrament - Deluxe Producer Edition (with bonus CD of audio tracks that have been isolated, separated and prepared for use on Mac or PC; Epic)
· The Libertines - The Best Of: A Time for Heroes (Rough Trade) [Buy Now]
· Lindisfarne - The Very Best of Lindisfarne (Caroline)
· Mack 10 - The Best of Mack 10: Foe Life (Priority) [Buy Now]
· N.W.A - Straight Outta Compton - 20th Anniversary Edition (Capitol/Priority) [Buy Now]
· Westside Connection - The Best of Westside Connection: The Gangsta, the Killa and the Dope Dealer (Capitol/Priority)
· Various artists - Crunk Hits Vol. 4 (TVT)
· Various artists - 20 Years of Nuclear Blast (Nuclear Blast)

Music DVDs:

· Mariah Carey - "The Adventures of Mimi" (two DVDs; Best Buy exclusive) [Buy Now]
· Brian Eno - "77 Million Paintings by Brian Eno" (two DVDs; Hannibal)
· Nelly Furtado - "Loose: The Concert" (Geffen) [Buy Now]
· Pelican - "After the Ceiling Cracked" (with CD; Hydra Head)
· Scissor Sisters - "Hurrah: A Year of Ta-Dah" (Universal) [Buy Now]
· The Marshall Tucker Band - "Carolina Dreams Tour '77" (Shout! Factory/Ramblin'; one DVD and two CDs)
· Rufus Wainwright - "Rufus! Rufus! Rufus! Does Judy! Judy! Judy!: Live From the London Palladium" (Geffen)
· Various artists - "Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis" (two DVDs and one CD; Reprise)

Digital Releases:

· Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - American X: Baby 81 Sessions (limited-edition EP; available exclusively at ThinkIndie.com)
· Echo and the Bunnymen - B-Sides and Live (2001-2005) (Cooking Vinyl)
· Interpol - Interpol Live (EP; available exclusively at ThinkIndie.com)
· John Lennon - "John Lennon Video Album" (available exclusively at Starbucks via the iTunes Digital Release card; Capitol/EMI Music Marketing)
· Nassiri - Holiday Collection (self-release)
· Professor Murder - Professor Murder on a Desert Island (free EP; RCRD LBL)
· Various artists - Through the Wilderness: A Tribute to Madonna (Manimal Vinyl)

Coming Attractions:

December 11:
· Bow Wow and Omarion - Face Off (also available with bonus DVD; Columbia) [Preorder]
Read: "Bow Wow Says His Face Off With Omarion Will Mean A 'Whole Bunch Of #1 Records' "
· R. Kelly - "Trapped in the Closet, Chapters 1-22" DVD (Jive) [Preorder]
· Mario - Go (J) [Preorder]
· Wu-Tang Clan - The 8 Diagrams (Best Buy edition comes with exclusive DVD; Def Jam) [Preorder]
Read: "Wu-Tang Clan's 'First-Ever Cleared Beatles Sample' Claim Is Incorrect"

December 18:
· Christina Aguilera - "Back to Basics: Live and Down Under" (RCA) [Preorder]
· Mary J. Blige - Growing Pains (Geffen) [Preorder]
Read: "Mary J. Blige Says She's 'Just Fine' With Her New Album, Losing 'Umbrella' To Rihanna"
· Chamillionaire - Mixtape Messiah 4 (Universal) [Preorder]
· Chingy - Hate It or Love It (Disturbing Tha Peace) [Preorder]
· Rivers Cuomo - Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo (Geffen)
· Lupe Fiasco - Lupe Fiasco's the Cool (Atlantic) [Preorder]
Read: "Lupe Fiasco's Cool World: Tragedy Meets 'Mad Poppy Beats'"
· Rick Ross - Trilla (Def Jam) [Preorder]

December 25:
· Various artists - "High School Musical 2": Non-Stop Dance Party (Disney)
· Various artists - "Young Frankenstein: The New Mel Brooks Musical" (Decca Broadway)

• Ghostface Killah
• Wyclef Jean
• Mariah Carey
• Nelly Furtado
• DJ Drama

Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea (file)
Photo: Scott Gries/ Getty Images

Wildfires broke out in Malibu, California, again over the weekend, and among those impacted were Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, who lost a home due to the flames, and Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose, who had a close call when the fires burned his roof and singed some of his property. According to a report on KCAL-TV, Rose's assistant said the rocker "was with the hose everywhere" on his property, fighting to save his home. The Los Angeles Times reports that Flea said in a text message that his $4.8 million home in Corral Canyon was "burnt to a crisp" by the fires on Saturday morning. According to TMZ.com, a second, $10 million Malibu home owned by Flea — the one in which he currently resides — did not burn. The one that did was a $4.8 million house that the bassist rents and currently has up for sale, the site reports. ...

Mary J. Blige is slated to perform at an upcoming Lifebeat benefit event honoring Stephen Hill, executive vice president of entertainment and music programming at BET. "Live Beats: A Night of Musical Mayhem and Tonal Terror Fashioned by Fun(k)," set to take place December 4 at New York's Highline Ballroom, will salute the Lifebeat board member for his work in fighting AIDS/HIV. Proceeds from the event will go to Lifebeat, and a related contest will give the winner a chance to play onstage at the venue with Blige's 10-piece backing band. For more info, go to Lifebeat.org. Adding to her good-Samaritan cred, Blige also played last week at a homeless-initiatives benefit show hosted by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and staged by the Staples Center Foundation at the city's Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE. ...

Ho ho huh? Nelly Furtado has ganged up with members of AFI, LCD Soundsystem, the Faint, Panthers, the Horrors, Terror and the Black Lips for an upcoming charity release by Canadian hardcore-punk princes F---ed Up. The track is featured as the B-side on the band's new holiday single, and all proceeds will go to the George Herman House, a Toronto transitional-housing and life-skills program supporting women with mental-health issues. In more conventional news, Furtado has piled together a CD and DVD for her recent Get Loose World Tour. The items, both called Loose the Concert, will drop December 4 and feature 11 and 17 selections, respectively, from the trek. The DVD features a cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" as well as 30 minutes of documentary material ...

If you think Furtado's collaborative affair is out there, try this one on for size: Pete Wentz + Perez Hilton. The Fall Out Boy bassist and gossip guru have joined forces to create a new tee for Wentz's Clandestine Industries. They've come up with a name for it — "I Love Being a Sh--talker" — but are staging a contest to determine the design. The shirt will be sold at the new Clandestine Industries store in Chicago and on the company's Web site, ClandestineIndustries.com, and the winner will get a tee signed by Wentz and Hilton. The deadline to submit an original design is December 14, and the winner will be named seven days later — go to FriendsorEnemies.com for the 411 on how to enter. ...

While Time has yet to decide if J.K. Rowling will best Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore and others for Person of the Year, the "Harry Potter" author has earned her place as the Entertainer of the Year in another magazine, Entertainment Weekly. The publication said she deserves the honor for getting "people to tote around her big, old-fashioned printed-on-paper books as if they were the hottest new entertainment devices on the planet." Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, George Clooney and Will Smith also made EW's list of 25 top entertainers of the year. ...

Linkin Park plan to keep touring in 2008, and they'll be bringing Coheed and Cambria along for the ride. So far, just two dates have been announced for the groups' tour leg: February 16 in Detroit and February 18 in Manchester, New Hampshire. More dates will be revealed in the coming weeks. ... Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood's instrumental score to the upcoming Paul Thomas Anderson film "There Will Be Blood" is due in stores December 18. The movie hits theaters eight days later. The score includes material Greenwood wrote for a previous orchestral piece, "Popcorn Superhet Receiver," which will debut in concert in the U.S. in January when he participates in New York's Wordless Music Series. ... U2's Bono and the Edge surprised about 200 fans on Friday at the small London venue Union Chapel with a 20-minute, four-song acoustic set. According to a report on the band's Web site, the duo played "Stay," "Desire," "Angel of Harlem" and the recently unearthed rarity "Wave of Sorrow," which had never been played live and for which the Edge played keyboards. The gig was part of the Little Noise Sessions put on by Mencap, a group that aids people with learning disabilities. ...

Hulk Hogan said he was totally unaware that his wife of 24 years, Linda Marie Bollea, had recently filed for divorce when asked to comment on Friday by the St. Petersburg Times. According to the paper, Linda filed a petition for the dissolution of their marriage last Tuesday, unbeknownst to her husband. After learning of the development, the wrestler then reportedly thanked the reporter for the "great information" and hung up, calling back five minutes later to say he'd been "kind of shocked" by the news. "You caught me off guard. My wife has been in California for about three weeks," Hogan reportedly said. "Holy smokes. Wow, you just knocked the bottom out of me. I just pulled over to the side of the road for five minutes to find out what was going on here." According to The Associated Press, Linda Bollea requested alimony and child support for their 17-year-old son, Nick Bollea, as well as a share of the family's two multimillion-dollar properties in Florida, in her divorce petition, which calls the marriage "irretrievably broken." The couple married in 1983 and have two children, 19-year-old singer Brooke Hogan and Nick, who was involved in an August car crash that left a passenger critically injured. ...

The critics and moviegoers might be loving "American Gangster," but one New York City Drug Enforcement agent apparently isn't so fond of the film. According to TMZ.com, ex-agent Gregory Korniloff is threatening legal action against the movie's studio, Universal, for what he claims are "false and defamatory statements." In a recently filed cease-and-desist letter filed by his attorney, Korniloff demands a retraction of statements made in the movie, which allegedly presents several misleading facts and incorrectly states that a third of NYC DEA agents were convicted on charges related to gangster Frank Lucas. The now-retired agent was the case agent for the DEA and, as the letter reportedly states, "personally participated in the search of Lucas' house ... and the arrest of Lucas on that same day."

It was another rough weekend for Amy Winehouse. First, according to Reuters, the singer's husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, was denied bail and ordered to remain in custody until at least January 18 after appearing in a London court on Friday, charged with allegedly beating up a bartender. Fielder-Civil and another man, Michael Brown, were slated to stand trial this month in the case, in which they are accused of roughing up pub landlord James King last June. But the trial was recently delayed after police arrested Fielder-Civil and accused him of conspiracy to obstruct justice in the assault case. The news was hardly better for Winehouse, who reportedly showed up 45 minutes late for her gig Saturday night at London's Hammersmith Apollo, at which point some fans were already asking for refunds. NME reported that there was a loud chorus of boos by the time Winehouse finally took the stage and things only got worse from there, including a bit where her famous towering beehive almost toppled over and fell off. At one point, looking bored, she walked offstage and let her backup singers take over lead vocals. During the show's encore she left again, midway through a song, and didn't return. ...

The mystery surrounding AlbumSix.com just keeps growing. The site, believed by many to be a stealth Weezer affair, was under scrutiny again, when the bandmembers posted on its official Web site last week that they have no affiliation with it or any news it purports to have. Weezer also disputed the site's claims that the next album would be called Tout Ensemble and that it already has an official release date. According to a post on AlbumSix, "Weezer and Geffen Records have no affiliation with www.albumsix.com. ... We are honestly surprised how long this lasted. We expected that the media would contact Interscope or Weezer, and they would squash things immediately. But somehow, we slipped through the traditions of journalism. ... We never expected anyone to believe it. We thought we'd get a few Weezer fans on the boards to get excited, but we never actually thought we'd become a legitimate news source. We can't say we blame the media. Viral marketing is the hot new thing. However, we hoped you learned a lesson. ... We are extremely excited about the new Weezer album and are glad to see that everyone seems to share our excitement. We will be anxiously awaiting the real release date and title of album six along with everybody else. Until then, thanks for playing." Weezer offered a "well played" to the people behind the site. ...

Break out your lighters: Extreme are reuniting for a world tour and new album next year. The group broke up 11 years ago but got together in 2004-'06 for a brief re-formation. Guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, who is slated to produce the group's yet-untitled LP, said that in light of the inclusion of the band's song "Play With Me" in "Guitar Hero," "We realized, not only are the people starved for rock 'n' roll, so are we," according to a press release. "Let's eat," he added. ... The Romantics have filed a lawsuit against the makers of the "Guitar Hero" video game series, claiming a cover band tapped to record the act's signature song for the game sounds too much like the original, according to AP. The band's "What I Like About You" appears in "Guitar Hero Encore, Rocks the '80s," and, after declining permission to allow game manufacturer Activision to use the song in the game, the re-recorded version sounds too similar to the original. The band is seeking a cut of royalties produced through sales of the game. ...

The reunited Spice Girls want to set the record straight. After an e-mail went out over the weekend claiming that the group had scrapped a planned gig in Buenos Aires, Argentina, due to high demand for other dates, a spokesperson said the e-mail was a fake and the gig is penciled in for February. A statement on the group's Web site reads, "The Spice Girls would like to make it clear that they have not canceled their Buenos Aires show. ... A story has appeared on several Web sites that includes a fake e-mail and competition from the girls. The fake e-mail claims that due to the demand so far in the U.K. and the U.S. this show is going to be canceled. ... The e-mail goes on to say that they will be running some competitions for their South American fans to travel to the U.K. to watch a show. This is not the case and this email is 100 percent unofficial and has nothing to do with the Spice Girls." ...

A judge set a February 25 court date for faded 1980s pop star Boy George, who has been accused of falsely imprisoning a 28-year-old male escort by chaining him to a wall in his London apartment in April. George (born George O'Dowd), 46, spoke only to confirm his name in court on Thursday, and was released on bail and ordered to have no contact with the alleged victim, according to reports.

11.21.07

T.I.'s lawyers gave a hint of how they plan to defend their client through motions filed in court on Monday seeking to suppress evidence seized from the rapper's vehicle during his October 13 arrest on federal weapons charges. The motions claim that the evidence against him and statements he made to authorities were illegally obtained. The Associated Press reports that attorneys for the rapper (born Clifford Harris) claim his car was searched without a warrant, consent or probable cause. They also claim that his detention might not have been appropriate, that statements he made to authorities might not have been voluntary and that agents may have failed to honor his rights. The motions don't go into details on the basis for the legal challenges, but state that more information will be filled in later. A judge had not made a ruling on the challenges at press time. ...

A judge suspended the driver's license of wrestler Hulk Hogan's son, Nick Bollea, for one year on Tuesday, in the wake of the 17-year-old's August crash that left his friend in critical condition, according to the AP. Bollea was arrested on November 7 on charges of reckless driving involving serious bodily injury, and the Tampa Tribune reported that the teen received a letter on Monday informing him of the suspension, as well as a letter ordering him to pay a fine for driving 106 mph before the crash, to avoid having his license suspended indefinitely. "We have the ability to suspend someone's license if we believe what they could be convicted of is a potential danger should this person remain on the road," said Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles spokeswoman Ann Nucatola. "We've deemed him dangerous to the general public on the road." ...

Despite their differences, the Wu-Tang Clan will be touring in support of their forthcoming album, The 8 Diagrams. The trek begins on December 15 in Chicago, and runs through January 26 in St. Petersburg, Florida. ... According to Bruce Springsteen's Web site, keyboard player Danny Federici, an original member of the E Street Band, has decided to take a leave of absence from Springsteen's current tour to undergo treatment for melanoma. Charles Giordano, who played with Bruce as a member of the Sessions band, will temporarily fill in for Federici until he's able to return. ... As I Lay Dying, August Burns Red, Evergreen Terrace and Still Remains are planning to hit the road together in January. The trek commences January 8 in San Luis Obispo, California, and runs through February 1 in Omaha, Nebraska. More dates are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. ...

The Cure's Robert Smith addressed rumors about him working with Ashlee Simpson in V magazine. "First of all, I was mostly shocked by how fantastically widespread that rumor was ... and by how quickly it spread," he said. "I know that people were really upset by the idea that I would do that and I suppose I can understand why, but it still seems so ridiculous to me. I took my nieces to see her perform in 'Chicago' on the West End and afterward they wanted to meet her, so we went backstage and said hello. I didn't understand what the big deal was. You can say what you want about her, but she can sing. Whether or not we'd actually do anything together, I don't know. I didn't see any reason to deny the rumor as I thought it was amusing and I never deny rumors anyway. There are a handful of singers that I'd rather pull my own fingernails out than be stuck in the same room with, but she isn't really one of them. We have no plans to collaborate, though. Believe it or not, she and I don't really run into each other. [He laughed.] Now, wait a second ... Ashlee is calling on my other line and I should probably take it." ...

The track list for Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo's forthcoming solo album, Alone — The Home Records of Rivers Cuomo, has been revealed. The album, due out December 18, will boast 17 tracks, including an early version of the band's 1995 hit "Buddy Holly," as well as the songs "Who You Callin' B---h?," "Dude We're Finally Landing," and "I Wish You Had an Axe Guitar." In related news, Weezer have titled their forthcoming album Tout Ensemble, according to the band's Web site. ...

Don Imus has certainly been called a lot of things in 2007 — racist, sexist, fired, you name it. King magazine, however, has another name for him: Man of the Year. Imus was given the mag's yearly big-dog award in the new issue. Huh? Editor-in-chief Jermaine Hall said Imus was honored for being a lighting rod in the urban community. ... Former New Kid on the Block Joey McIntyre and his wife, Barrett, welcomed a baby boy on Tuesday, People magazine reports. "The family is happy and healthy," a rep for McIntyre told the magazine. "Everyone's doing well and they're excited he made it here in time for Thanksgiving." McIntyre, 34, and his wife, 29, have not yet picked a name for the child. ...

According to the Florida Times-Union, former Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle was arrested in St. John's County, Florida, on Monday, charged with failure to properly register as a sex offender. The 59-year-old, whose real name is Thomas Delmer Pyle, lives in Asheville, North Carolina. He was released from police custody Tuesday on $10,000 bail. Pyle pleaded guilty in 1993 to charges of attempted capital sexual battery by an adult on a victim younger than 12 and principal to lewd and lascivious on a child younger than 16. He was sentenced to eight years of probation and designated as a sex offender. His latest arrest stems from his recent attempt to renew his driver's license in Florida. Police claim he failed to register as a sex offender in Florida, which state law mandates, and detectives claim he has not lived at the address provided on his license renewal application for many years.

• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Mary J. Blige
• AFI
• Fall Out Boy
• Amy Winehouse

Snoop Dogg at the 2007 VH1 Hip Hop Honors
Photo: Scott Gries/ Getty Images

NEW YORK — Q-Tip might refer to himself as "The Abstract," but there was nothing hard to understand about his and A Tribe Called Quest's performance as a part of the fourth annual VH1 Hip Hop Honors tribute held at the Hammerstein Ballroom on Thursday night (October 4) in Manhattan. The show is set to air Monday at 10 p.m. ET on VH1.

The legendary Queens, New York, trio (rounded out to a quartet once again with Jarobi back in the fold for the night) were the main honorees, and the love movement was in full effect as Pharrell, Common, Lupe Fiasco and Busta Rhymes came together to pay homage to Linden Boulevard's finest.

"[Tribe] brought a real sense of the tribal aspect and togetherness to hip-hop," KRS-One said of the group on the red carpet before the show.

Those feelings poured out onto the stage for sure.

Common kicked the set off, beginning with the group's first-ever single, "Bonita Applebaum," and walking past — and touching — a bevy of beauties.

Pharrell and Lupe then traded verses on "Electric Relaxation," before the Chicago MC tripped up a few words on the track.

(Check out pictures of Pharrell, Snoop Dogg, Eve, Ne-Yo and more at this year's Hip Hop Honors.)

Prior to the show, Lupe told MTV News that Q-Tip was adamant about having him spit for them as a sort of "hazing." The young rapper wouldn't clarify specifics, but it likely had to do with a post on the Internet that circulated about Lupe not being all the way familiar with one of ATCQ's landmark albums, Midnight Marauders. Tip, it seems, put him to the test.

But if Lupe didn't pass, Busta definitely did and with flying colors.

The longtime Tribe associate roared onstage for the conclusion of "Scenario," decked out in a vintage Leaders of the New School outfit, and brought the place down.

Queens had its day, but Uptown — Harlem, that is — was also in the house without a doubt.

Producer Teddy Riley and veteran exec Andre Harrell pioneered the new jack swing era and Uptown Records run, respectfully. Appropriately, Diddy introduced the duo's video montage; the Bad Boy CEO interned at Uptown before starting his own empire, and his marriage of hip-hop and R&B was an extension of the trend Riley previously kicked off.

Ne-Yo and Keyshia Cole performed the Riley-produced Michael Jackson hit "Remember the Time," and then T-Pain went from rapper-turned-singer to TR impersonator, as he put his own vocal acrobats to Keith Sweat's "I Want Her."

Riley reunited with Blackstreet member Chauncey Black as the two hit the stage to briefly perform the group's "No Diggity."

Whodini and "Wild Style" director Charlie Ahearn and Fab 5 Freddy were also honored.

Jermaine Dupri (who used to dance onstage at early Whodini shows), Nelly and Nick Cannon paid tribute to the "Freaks Come Out at Night" group. Nelly impressed with a mean doo-wop back and forth with one of the Whodini members during a boogie session.

Missy Elliott and Snoop Dogg continued the '90s invasion that was started last year by the Wu-Tang Clan. The lone female among the honorees, however, wasn't lost within the testosterone-fueled performances.

Missy collaborators Eve, Tweet, Ciara and Keyshia Cole paid tribute to the Virginia native; Tweet rocked alongside Timbaland for "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)," while Eve performed "Work It" and her verse from "Hot Boyz." There were no trash-bag sightings, à la the Hype Williams-directed "Rain" video.

Nelly Furtado, with gold tresses matching her gold bangles and bracelets, also performed, rhyming over Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On." Missy was the only honored artist who didn't also perform herself.

Snoop was the sole West Coast artist on the bill, but the L.A. rapper brought a gang of homies with him. Bow Wow, Pharrell, Ice-T, T.I., Daz and B.G. all joined him; first T.I. and B.G. rode on Snoop and Dr. Dre's "Deep Cover." T.I. was in the spirit, decked out in a full khaki suit, Chucks and a Dodgers cap.

It then turned into a full gangster party when the Doggfather went into "Drop It Like It's Hot."

Host Tracy Morgan kept the laughs going throughout the evening with a number of jokes in televised sketches.

"Have you ever been hit in the head with a cell phone by Foxy Brown?" the actor, dressed like a cab driver, asked a passenger. "Then you ain't hip-hop."

"Do you have beef with 50 Cent?" he continued.

But on this night, it was nothing but love.

Chuck D, LL Cool J, Chris Rock, Kool Moe Dee, actress Kerry Washington, Salt-N-Pepa, Michael Eric Dyson and Melle Mel were also on hand, among others.

• Stars Spread The Love At VH1 Hip Hop Honors

• Snoop, Pharrell, Diddy, Ciara And More At The 2007 VH1 Hip Hop Honors

• Snoop Dogg
• A Tribe Called Quest
• Missy Elliott
• T.I.
• Pharrell Williams

My Chemical Romance
Photo: Chapman Baehler

There was once a time when only the most talented musicians — people like Frank Sinatra, Diana Ross and Elvis — would dare to make the jump to movies. But with music videos giving birth to a generation of camera-friendly musicians, however, it isn't just Madonna, Eminem and Justin Timberlake playing the actor/singer game, but also everybody from Ashlee Simpson to Diddy to Macy Gray.

The tide has shifted so much, in fact, that it's sometimes more conspicuous these days when a musician chooses not to make movies. With that in mind, we've compiled this list of the top musical acts that have avoided the silver screen so far — and, based on what we know about them, whether their acting debuts would yield a "Godfather" or a "Glitter."

My Chemical Romance: For several years now, these guys have been challenging the Gorillaz for the title of most animated musical group. In the video for "Helena," they transformed a funeral into an overly emotional dance-off reminiscent of Woody Allen's "Everyone Says I Love You." With the "Welcome to the Black Parade" clip, Gerard Way and the boys created a unique hybrid of "Metropolis," "Johnny Got His Gun" and Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas." Then there's the video for "The Ghost of You," in which MCR turn themselves into characters reminiscent of "Saving Private Ryan" — and bassist Mikey Way dies so convincingly that you'd swear he was channeling Giovanni Ribisi. If they ever did make a movie, it would probably be creepy, overly manipulative and melodramatic — but hey, the same formula has worked pretty well for M. Night Shyamalan, right?

R. Kelly: The R&B singer may have written, produced, co-directed and starred in all 22 episodes of his self-described hip-hopera, but we think it's his acting skills that are "Trapped in the Closet." Sure, Kelly's tangled web of cheating lovers, stuttering pimps, well-endowed male strippers and fainting midgets was good for a few laughs, but comedies work best when the audience is laughing with — not at — the leading man. While we doubt that even Sir Ben Kingsley would be brave enough to dub in the voice of a Southern housewife, Kelly's rendition wasn't good enough to make us do anything other than start creeping — straight toward the door. For the foreseeable future, the embattled singer might want to concentrate on a future of CD singles and subpoenas — because if there's one "Trapped" actor that deserves an Oscar, it's Rosie the nosy neighbor, for keeping a straight face while watching Kelly emote.

Feist: "1234," this Canadian singer/songwriter has made us love her more — and she's quickly becoming one of the most difficult recording artists to peel your eyes away from. When you're acting, that's half the battle, so we might be willing to fork over 10 bucks to see Leslie Feist in a movie. The girl insists on working a choreographed routine into most of her music videos even though she clearly cannot dance, recalling the bravery of an actress like Hilary Swank. She's quirky, awkward and a bit off-kilter, which is reminiscent of someone like Helena Bonham Carter or Zooey Deschanel. Finally, in the opening sequence of her video for "Mushaboom," the silk-skinned songstress manages to grab hold of the camera lens and delight the senses with a completely solitary moment — a throwback to the days of the silent actress. If director Michel Gondry would cast her in a movie like "The Science of Sleep," we're sure that Leslie would give a feisty performance.

Kanye West: Producer, artist, activist, designer ... actor? We think not. Although West can always be counted on to throw temper tantrums, his flair for drama ends there. For better or worse, Kanye is too self-absorbed to play anyone but himself — and in a recent "Entourage" episode, the "Stronger" rapper proved that he wasn't even strong in that department. With only a few scenes, West was supposed to round up Vince and the boys and fly them to Cannes, but the improv-heavy, conversational tone of the show simply ate him alive. Frankly, it was painful to watch. Still, we think that with his level of commitment, he could eventually become at least as serviceable an actor as his rival 50 Cent. So if you do decide to get into movies, Kanye, invest some serious time in acting lessons — God knows you've got the money to pay for them.

Nelly Furtado: The Canadian singer/songwriter made a name for herself with sultry dance routines, in music videos like "Promiscuous," and we think she's shown all the right moves to make a jump into film. First of all, she's bilingual — a major asset in today's border-breaking flicks like "Babel" and "Eastern Promises." Secondly, she has already graced the small screen — late last year, she played the daughter of immigrant parents on the Portuguese soap "Floribella." And thirdly, she's got the kind of body that puts plastic surgeons out of business — a sure sign she'd make a credible action star. We'd definitely let out a "Whoa, Nelly!" if the songstress snagged a Lara Croft-like franchise that took her around the world in hip-hugging leather pants, or maybe something like Carrie-Anne Moss' butt-kicking role in "The Matrix." Because honestly, if she can save her dog's life in the "Maneater" video, what's stopping her from doing the same for Keanu?

Gnarls Barkley: Whenever we see Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo, they're always dressed like characters from a great movie like "Star Wars," "A Clockwork Orange" or "Back to the Future." So isn't it about time that these guys break out their own blockbuster? In a perfect world, the "Crazy" duo could find a buddy script like "The Blues Brothers" and let their considerable imaginations run wild.

Christina Aguilera: She's a Grammy winner blessed with what might be the best voice in pop, but when it comes to a movie career, we're not quite sure what sort of note Xtina would hit. In videos like "Candyman" (where she plays a pinup girl) and "Ain't No Other Man" (a nightclub singer), Aguilera shows some serious versatility — and we could easily see her taking those chaps from "Dirrty" into a role like Jessica Alba's "Sin City" sexpot. But on the flipside, Aguilera's closest musical competitor has always been Britney Spears, whose debut flick still has us washing our eyes out with soap. We'd be willing to give the doe-eyed diva a chance if she'd pass over clichéd scripts like "Crossroads" and instead find the next "Moulin Rouge," a film she helped provide the sound for with her "Lady Marmalade" posse.

Will.I.Am: Whether he's goofing around in his trademark street gear, dressed up in Prohibition-era duds or disappearing into an afro and missing teeth (for the "Don't Phunk With My Heart" video), the most powerful Pea is already an actor. Jumping up and down alongside the rest of the Black Eyed bunch, the group's videos have firmly established Will's wild dance moves and appreciation of lovely lady lumps. If he wants to go from Elephunk to Ele-film, we can already imagine him as the skirt-chasing wingman to a star like Will Smith or Adam Sandler. Simply think of the "Swingers" role that made Vince Vaughn a star, insert Will, and you're bound to have a more memorable performance than Fergie's work in "Poseidon."

Robin Thicke: First off, he's Alan Thicke's kid — 'nuff said. Secondly, although the velvet-tongued Robin has made a name with his sultry vocal skills, his videos always seem to fizzle when it comes to onscreen charisma. Take "Can U Believe" and "Lost Without U," two videos that feature him staring longingly into the camera virtually the entire time. What is supposed to be seductive ends up being just plain dull and captivates viewers only because they're itching to see if Thicke is capable of any other facial expression. We can't help but wonder how bad "Cast Away" would have been if Tom Hanks' character kept staring at the camera with bedroom eyes. Robin might have lucked out in the looks and musical-talent departments, but when it comes to acting, Thicke ends up seeming a little thin.

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• My Chemical Romance
• Kanye West
• Christina Aguilera
• R. Kelly
• Feist

MTV.com Exclusive: Nelly Furtado

• Nelly Furtado

2008 Grammy Award Nominees: Akon, Fergie, T.I., More

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• Jay-Z
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• Justin Timberlake

Snoop, Pharrell, Diddy, Ciara And More At The 2007 VH1 Hip Hop Honors

• Snoop Dogg
• Pharrell Williams
• LL Cool J
• T-Pain
• Ne-Yo

2007 VMA: Red Carpet Fashion Look Book

• Maroon 5
• Peter Bjorn and John
• Nelly Furtado
• Rihanna

Paris Hilton, Diddy, Timbaland, Janet Jackson, More Hit The Vegas Party Scene

• Britney Spears
• Justin Timberlake
• Timbaland
• Nick Cannon
• Lil Jon

2007 VMA: Bet On Black

• Alicia Keys
• Ashlee Simpson
• Nelly Furtado
• Foo Fighters

Behind The Scenes: Nelly Furtado's TV Spots

• Nelly Furtado

The 2007 MTV Video Music Award Nominees

• Beyoncé
• Justin Timberlake
• Shakira
• Amy Winehouse
• Kanye West

50, Kanye, Diddy, Lil Wayne, Eve, Adam Levine Set For 2007 MTV Video Music Awards

• Rihanna
• Fall Out Boy
• Timbaland
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Grammy Parties: Scarlett, Christina, Justin, Katharine And More

• Timbaland
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