JoJo

Jay Sean Says Joe Jonas Tour Was 'Crazy,' 'Hectic'

07 Oct 2011 20:28:44 EDT

The pair, along with JoJo, wrapped up their tour in New York City on Thursday.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Akshay Bhansali

For a minute there, Jay Sean was living the "fast life." After trekking across the country with the newly solo Joe Jonas and a reinvented JoJo, Sean and his crew wrapped up their tour on Thursday night in New York City.

The singer stopped by the MTV News offices to reflect on the outing just hours before he took the stage. "I mean, you know what the funny thing is, you wouldn't have thought to put us three together," he said of the "triple J's." "JoJo's great 'cause she's like the girl-power thing. And then me and Joe, the best thing about me and Joe being together, not only are the majority of our fans young girls, we have this overlap of fans. That's how we put this tour together. We're like, 'You know, man? It makes sense.' "

While the trio didn't get to have much downtime together, they did manage to squeeze in some fun here and here. "It's been so crazy," he said. "It's been so hectic. [But] we've had fun along the way."

Sean had some kind words for his tourmates just as they were prepping to say goodbye to one another. "Well, JoJo's a fantastic vocalist and she really brings it. I think that's always nice to watch and witness someone just sing really well," he said.

"There's a lot of changes in [Joe's] set and things his fans are getting really excited about," he continued. "The slightest knee jerk from him and they go crazy. He's got a nice, well-put-together show. For me, as a fan of music, I love going when I have a chance to sit there and watch somebody do something. I love it."

So, what's up next for everyone? Well, lots of new music. Sean has a free mixtape, The Mistress, which can be downloaded on his site, and his second U.S. album, Freeze Time,will drop later this fall, while Jonas' album Fast Life hits the streets on Tuesday. JoJo's next record, Jumping Trains, is slated for release early next year.

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Drake Thinks JoJo 'Killed It' On 'Marvin's Room' Remix

31 Aug 2011 16:07:12 EDT

'It meant a lot coming from him,' JoJo tells MTV News on VMA black carpet about Drizzy's response.
By Jocelyn Vena

LOS ANGELES — JoJo has certainly grown up somewhere between releasing "Leave (Get Out)" back in 2004 as a 14-year-old and her very NSFW remix of Drake's "Marvin's Room."

As soon as JoJo dropped the sultry, sassy track, redubbed "Marvin's Room (Can't Do Better)," earlier this summer, blogs and music lovers went crazy over her mature voice and even more mature lyrical content. In the song, she coos lines like "F--- that new girl that you like so bad/ She's not crazy like me, I bet you like that."

Much like the Drizzy version, JoJo's version is a swirling ode to drunk dialing that special someone, and the longing of the track seemed to resonate with folks — which is the most surprising part to JoJo, considering she drops a few F-bombs.

"I was shocked!" she told MTV News on Sunday night on the VMA black carpet about the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the remix.

So how did she end up recording her answer to Drake's track? "Well, one of my friends was like, 'Jo, you gotta hear this new Drake song!' I loved it, and I thought Drake was really emotional and honest," she explained. "I was like, 'This a great record,' so I had a little time in the car ride [on my way to the airport]. So I wrote my version in the car ride, and I landed in L.A., I went to the studio, I recorded it, and the next day I put it on the Internet, and people really, really loved it. And I was totally shocked, 'cause I was scared to use the F-word, and I didn't know how people would respond to it."

The track, produced by Jordan Gatsby and featuring vocals from Travis Garland, is not only fan-approved, but also approved by the Canadian rapper himself.

"He said I killed it and that he was really happy with everyone's response," she said of Drake's reaction. "It meant a lot coming from him. It was all out of respect."

The 28th annual MTV Video Music Awards have wrapped, but the real action is just getting started! Stick with MTV News for winners, fashion pics, video and behind-the-scenes stories about everything that went down. Visit VMA.MTV.com for the latest.

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Drake

Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Young Jeezy Rock VH1's 'Super Bowl Fan Jam 2010'

05 Feb 2010 11:32:00 EST

Timbaland, JoJo also perform at show in Miami; Justin Timberlake appears via video.
By Gil Kaufman

Leave it to the good people of Miami to fire up the tailgate grills four days early for Sunday's Super Bowl. The city that rarely sleeps got its party on way in advance of the Colts-Saints matchup on Thursday night, when VH1 kicked off the weekend with the one-hour "Super Bowl Fan Jam 2010" concert featuring Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Young Jeezy and Timbaland.




	VH1's Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam 2010

Timbaland opened the show, performing a virtual duet with Justin Timberlake on "Carry Out," the latest single from Tim's solo album, Shock Value II. Though the song was bangin', unlike last Friday at Timbaland's show in Hollywood, Timberlake did not join his frequent collaborator live onstage for the raunchy food-as-sex-metaphor-heavy tune, but instead was beamed in on a giant video screen.

Tim wasn't lonely for long, though, as his second song featured the all-grown-up JoJo strutting the stage in a shimmery silver tank top and gray leggings for the funky "Lose Control," during which she dropped some salty language that got her bleeped.

Next up was the seemingly indefatigable 15-year-old Justin Bieber, who appeared at Monday's "We Are the World" recording session and Sunday's Grammy Awards and rocked the stage with his candy pop hit "Baby," slapping hands with shrieking female fans, dozens of whom were corralled behind a glass wall on the stage for a closer look at the Canadian cutie.

Also fresh from the Grammys was Rihanna, who emerged from a smoke-filled hole in the stage wearing a black bra under a sexy asymmetrical space-age jumpsuit missing one leg and the opposite arm, and wielding a curved, sword-shaped mic stand as she sang a hard-rocking version of "Wait Your Turn." With crunching rock guitars and booming drums, she segued into the T.I. collabo "Live Your Life," which slid into a pop-punk take on "Disturbia."

And she wasn't done yet. RiRi closed the show by coming back out seated in a white armchair and crooning the gothy "Russian Roulette" before bringing Young Jeezy out for her crunching current single, "Hard." Wearing all black, the rapper spit his bit and ended up center stage, with Rihanna's arm draped around him. As the credits rolled, Rihanna gave them one more, grinding her way through the bouncy "Rude Boy," leaving the crowd pumped up for another three days of pre-game parties.

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Rihanna, Justin Bieber, More Perform At Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam

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For The Record: Quick News On James Brown, Spike Lee, Eminem, Ludacris, Jessica, Justin, JoJo & More

27 Dec 2006 14:57:00 EST

Brown lying in repose at Apollo; Spike Lee directing Brown biopic; Eminem's ex in custody battle.
By MTV News staff

Three days after his death at age 73, soul legend James Brown's body will return to the place where the singer made his stage debut, New York's Apollo Theater. According to The Associated Press, the public will be allowed to view Brown's body on Thursday at the legendary Harlem venue, followed by a private burial Friday in Brown's hometown of Augusta, Georgia. Another public ceremony will follow a day later at Augusta's James Brown Arena. Variety reports that Spike Lee has signed on to direct a biopic about Brown that is tentatively scheduled to begin in 2008. Brown played an active role in the project's development and gave producers access to his music rights. ...

The twin sister of Eminem's ex-wife, Kim Mathers, is in police custody after allegedly attempting to kidnap her son, AP reports. Kim Mathers, who is the legal guardian of her sister's 7-year-old, filed a parental-kidnapping complaint on Tuesday. Mathers' sister — whose name was not released by police — was arrested after she fled a local gas station. The boy has been returned to Mathers' custody. ... A former Sprint Nextel employee has filed a lawsuit claiming that she was fired unjustly for hiring Ludacris to perform at a company event — even though her boss was aware of her activities. According to the Kansas City Star, Elizabeth Henry said she was given permission to secure talent for a Las Vegas party. Henry said her boss green-lit two entertainers, Luda and LL Cool J. After booking 'Cris, however, Henry alleges that she was interrogated for five hours, despite assuring management that Luda would perform according to "PG-13 standards," and was fired later that same day. "Her boss approved it and didn't think anything of it until somebody said, 'Hey, have you ever listened to their music?' " Henry's lawyer, Brendan J. Donelon, told the newspaper. Sprint officials had not released a comment as of publish time. ...

Willie Nelson and Jessica Simpson are re-forming an onscreen family bond for "Blonde Ambition," according to The Hollywood Reporter. Nelson, who co-starred as Uncle Jesse to Simpson's Daisy Duke in 2005's "The Dukes of Hazzard," will play her grandfather in the "Working Girl" update. ... Look out, Cameron Diaz — JoJo's got an eye on your man. In the spring issue of Seventeen Prom, the singer encourages girls to get out there and ask someone to the prom ("This is 2006, babe ... I'm all for being the one to initiate") and admits her own dream date. "Well, I knew it was unattainable, but I always thought Justin Timberlake was so cute, especially when he was in 'NSYNC and had that blond Afro. He gets finer with age!" ...

Jessica Alba and Johnny Depp top a poll of fantasy New Year's Eve dates, with Scarlett Johansson and George Clooney also ranking high in the Blockbuster Inc. survey. And while they want beautiful stars holding their arm when 2007 arrives, respondents said they were more interested in hanging out than hooking up. Seventy percent of those polled said their pick was someone who would be fun to spend time with, and only 15 percent admitted to choosing someone they'd want to kiss at midnight. ...

Before heading on a two-week trek through Australia in late March, Dave Matthews Band will headline a two-night stand at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas on March 23 and 24. The Fray will open the Vegas shows. ... TV on the Radio have mapped out a 28-city tour that will kick off March 1 in Providence, Rhode Island. Opening acts have not been confirmed, but are expected to be named in the coming weeks. The tour will run through an April 21 stop in Poughkeepsie, New York. ... Brand New will hit the road this spring for a U.S. headlining run that launches March 15 in Buffalo, New York, and wraps up April 25 with a show in Philadelphia. ... Two new untitled demo tracks from Evanescence drummer William "Rocky" Gray's Soul Embraced side project have been posted to the band's MySpace page. Gray plays guitar for the Little Rock, Arkansas, outfit, which is fronted by his brother-in-law Chad Moore and features Living Sacrifice's Lance Garvin on drums. The band — which released its The Fleshless EP in 1999, followed by the LPs For The Incomplete (2000), This Is My Blood (2002) and Immune (2003) — is compiling material for its next studio effort. ...

An album cover signed by all four members of the Beatles — as a gift for George Harrison's sister Louise — sold Friday at an auction in New York for more than $115,000, AP reports. The winning bidder was not identified, but the sale set a record for a signed Beatles album purchased at a public sale. On the cover of the copy of Meet the Beatles, the Fab Four's first U.S. release, Harrison had written above his signature, "To Lou with love from 'Brother'!!" while John Lennon wrote, "To Lou many love from John Lennon X." ...

Want to pre-order Norah Jones' forthcoming Not Too Late? Well, you've got many options. iTunes is sweetening the deal with five tracks from her iTunes Live Session; Amazon if offering an exclusive live video performance of "Rosie's Lullaby," one of the tracks featured on the artist's third release; and getting the set through Walmart.com will grant you instant access to the first single, "Thinking About You." ... Winger fans unite! The founding members of the hair-metal band will take flight for their first tour in more than 10 years on Sunday in Pittsburgh. Winger, which recently issued Winger IV, will end the six-week U.S. jaunt on March 9 in Houston.

12.26.2006

As 2006 draws to a close, the R&B charts have crowned their queen. Mary J. Blige's The Breakthrough was #1 on Billboard magazine's year-end R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and she's at the top of 2006's R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart thanks to her single, "Be Without You." Blige was followed on the R&B albums chart by Jamie Foxx's Unpredictable, while newcomer Chris Brown also made some noise, landing at #5 on the R&B albums chart and topping the pop lists for Top Artists, Top Male Artists and Top New Artists. In the latter category, he was followed by Ne-Yo, the Fray, James Blunt and Carrie Underwood. Ne-Yo also fared well on the R&B albums chart, where In My Own Words, landed at #4. T.I.'s King finished at #1 on the Top Rap Albums count, and Underwood makes history by becoming the first "American Idol" winner to have the #1 entry on the year-end Billboard albums chart. Her country album, Some Hearts, has never left the Billboard 200 since its debut, holding off the year's surprise smash seller, the #2-selling soundtrack to "High School Musical." ...

You won't have to call him "Sir Bono," but U2's frontman was awarded an honorary British Knighthood over the Christmas weekend for his work in music and humanitarian efforts, according to a posting on the band's Web site. A statement on the site said the 46-year-old singer was, in his typically straightforward manner, "very flattered to be honored, particularly if the honor ... opens doors for his long standing campaigning work against extreme poverty in Africa." Because the Irish rocker is a not a British national, the honorary award does not entitle him to use the title of "Sir." ...

Turns out the faux-fur detail on two jackets from Diddy's Sean John line isn't so faux after all. The Associated Press reports that an investigation by the Humane Society of the United States found that nine out of 10 jackets tested were made from a species of undomesticated dog known as "raccoon dog." The garments were removed from Macy's stores, with a company spokesperson noting that the retailer has a policy against selling dog or cat fur. "I was completely unaware of the nature of this material," Diddy said in a statement. "I have instructed our outerwear licensee to cease the production of any garments using this material immediately." ...

More bands have being added to the lineup for this year's Bamboozle festival, which will be held May 5 and 6 at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with My Chemical Romance closing out the fest's first night, and Linkin Park tapped to wrap up the second. The newest additions to the bill include Muse; Thrice; Whole Wheat Bread featuring Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock; Saves the Day; the Early November; Hot Rod Circuit; Men, Women & Children; Haste the Day; Lordi, It Dies Today and the Devil Wears Prada. ...

Michael Jackson has filed a lawsuit against his former accountants, charging they made unauthorized business deals for which they later charged the pop star millions. According to the Associated Press, Jackson claims that Bernstein, Fox, Whitman, Goldman & Sloan withdrew $2.5 million a year from his bank accounts and failed to keep him apprised of his financial affairs. The suit, which alleges negligence and breach of fiduciary duty, also claims the firm failed to pay his bills properly. Jackson is seeking unspecified damages and a full accounting of all money the firm received for services. The singer hired the Los Angeles-based accounting firm in 2003 for bookkeeping, opening bank accounts and filing personal, corporate and real estate taxes. ...

The dates for Killswitch Engage's upcoming tour with Dragonforce, Chimaira and He Is Legend have been revealed. The 35-city jaunt kicks off in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on February 21. Stops in Philadelphi

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Promises 50 Cent, Lindsay Lohan, Tom Cruise Should Make For '07

27 Dec 2006 06:00:00 EST

Recommendations for New Year's resolutions for Sacha Baron Cohen, Keanu Reeves, JoJo.
By Larry Carroll

Yeah, yeah, yeah — another new year is staring you in the face and you're once again telling everybody that you're going to quit smoking, lose 10 pounds and learn to play the glockenspiel.

Since we all know that none of that stuff is gonna happen, let's instead make our New Year's resolution to force resolutions upon famous people, and see if they can better themselves in 2007. Listed below are some well-meaning pledges aimed toward our favorite Hollywood personalities and institutions — and we hope they'll listen, because then we could make our own resolution something realistic: seeing more movies in 2007.

50 Cent: Pledge to do a full-on action film. It's time.

Julia Roberts: You are still a movie star, right? How about a pledge to actually make a movie, then?

Michael Bay: We know you've worked the phrase "More than meets the eye" into an actor's lines for next summer's "Transformers" movie, which is awesome. Now, pledge to go out and get a tongue-in-cheek pop-culture band (Weezer? Gym Class Heroes?) to record a new version of the theme song.

Sylvester Stallone: You're about to start making your fourth "Rambo" film and "Rocky Balboa" is back, so why not pledge to take things to the next level? Announce "Rocky vs. Rambo," a "Freddy vs. Jason"-like flick that will allow the two characters to finally go toe-to-toe. Just figure out a way to get a boxing ring set up in an Iraq desert, and the script will write itself.

Hollywood: Are you still insisting on doing remakes? Pledge to bring back "Pete's Dragon," "The Phantom Tollbooth," the "Thin Man" series — plus other nearly forgotten, flawed near-classics like "The Black Hole," "The Rapture," "Miracle Mile" and "The Last Starfighter." Leave in-development classics like "The Wild Bunch" and "The Birds" alone — you'll never even come close.

Steve Carell and Sacha Baron Cohen: Pledge to immediately fire anyone in your employ who tries to steer you toward "family-friendly" movies like "Doctor Dolittle" or "The Majestic" in the upcoming year. Be confident enough to simply grow as a comedian.

Brian De Palma: Pledge never to let yourself be billed on a movie poster again as "the Director of 'Scarface' " — that was 23 years ago! Does Spielberg hype his films as being "from the director of 'Jaws' "?

Eugene Levy: Pledge to say no to a script every now and then. Moviegoers have supported you for years, but there's only so many times we can get burned by "New York Minute," "Cheaper by the Dozen 2," "The Man" and umpteen-million straight-to-DVD "American Pie" sequels.

John Travolta: Remember how you used to be the king of comebacks? Well, how about a pledge to find that next "Pulp Fiction" script this year?

Meagan Good, Jordana Brewster and Josh Lucas: You've each been "the next big thing" for a half decade now. Pledge to become the "big thing" in 2007.

JoJo: After taking some big movie strides in 2006, could we hear you pledge one more time that you won't be going Lindsay Lohan on us?

Mel Gibson: Pledge to retire. Seriously. Just take all your money and go away.

Tom Cruise: See Mel Gibson.

David Hasselhoff, Christopher Walken and Snoop Dogg: Pledge to stop taking roles that have you poking fun at your own image. Pick a good movie, be yourself and let the moviegoers find the humor in it if we want to.

Lindsay Lohan: With "Bobby" and "A Prairie Home Companion" you showed that you're determined to use your Hollywood clout for good and not evil. Pledge to keep throwing away scripts for "Confessions of a Teenage Herbie Queen," and then take your acting as seriously as you want your fans to take you.

Francis Ford Coppola: Can you please pledge to make your "On the Road" movie, already? You've been working on this thing for 39 years!

Brandon Routh: Pledge to hurry up and make a second, completely different movie — or risk battling the same closed-minded casting that hounded Christopher Reeve for decades.

Sharon Stone: No more "Basic Instinct" movies, please. And also, pledge that you won't make sequels to ... oh, that's right, "Basic Instinct" is the only movie of yours that would even warrant ill-advised-sequel talk.

Justin Long: Your interviews are funnier than any movie you've been a part of — pledge to sit down and funnel that humor into a script for yourself to star in.

Steven Spielberg: Pledge to remember how to properly end a film. From "Artificial Intelligence: A.I." to "The Terminal" to "Munich," nearly a decade of your career has been marred by almost-brilliant films with clunky, indecisive conclusions. In a town where everyone loves you, it must be hard to find someone who'll say "that doesn't work," but your 2007 goal should be to find some tough love and endings that are as powerful as your concepts.

Keanu Reeves: Pledge to find more scripts that cast you as a wide-eyed innocent in over your head ("The Matrix," "Point Break," the "Bill & Ted" movies), and admit that roles as well-informed architects ("The Lake House"), scientists ("Chain Reaction") or saviors (the "Matrix" sequels) aren't working.

Robert Redford and Paul Newman: Everyone says you're the greatest buddy-movie co-stars of all time, and for good reason — so stop teasing us. Pledge to finally give us one more classic movie while you guys still can.

Harrison Ford: Pledge to stop being Hollywood's grumpy old man, and embrace the rascal qualities that made you famous. Instead of "Indiana Jones 4," get George Lucas to change his mind about "Star Wars" and make Episodes VII, VIII and IX. Get them set 30 years after "Return of the Jedi," so Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and yourself can embrace your ages rather than run from them. Finally, talk Lucas into some kind of plot revolving around bounty hunters, the recruitment of young Jedi warriors and the tragic extinction of Jar Jar Binks and the Ewoks.

George Clooney, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt: Pledge to keep doing what you're doing, but lay off the "Ocean's" movies after this next one, OK?

Check out everything we've got on 50 Cent, "Transformers" and Lindsay Lohan.

Visit Movies on MTV.com for more from Hollywood, including news, reviews, interviews and more.

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Jessica Biel, 50 Cent, Samuel L. Jackson, More At The Premiere Of "Home Of The Brave"

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Producer J.R. Rotem Helping 50 Get Soul, Tossing Beats For Dr. Dre

19 Dec 2006 06:01:00 EST

Rotem also working on tracks for Jennifer Lopez, JoJo, Mya, Jesse McCartney.
By Shaheem Reid

Producer J.R. Rotem says he doesn't party. Judging by the schedule he's keeping these days, he probably wouldn't have time for it anyway.

A few years ago, Rotem was your average Joe, sitting at home in his boxer shorts wondering if anybody would actually pay for his tracks one day. Now Rotem has everyone from the Game to Rick Ross to JoJo shelling out top dollar for his beats. He's working with two artists a day, with Britney Spears and 50 Cent being the biggest names on his roster.

"Within a 24-hour time period I was in with 50, then Britney," Rotem said. "Whoever I'm in the studio with, I try to bring the best out of them and let them bring the best out of me. I just try to make the best possible song."

Although he's very secretive when it comes to Spears (see "Britney's New Music Is 'The Next Level,' Producer Says") — including those recently leaked tabloid photos that allegedly captured the two locking lips — he opens up just a little bit about 50's music. Just as 50 told MTV News a few weeks ago, he says the leader of the G-Unit is indeed looking to soul music for inspiration.

"I just sat down with him and we went through tracks," Rotem said. "He's definitely into soulful stuff. He's at a level where he doesn't have to put an album out for money or anything — he's in it for the love of hip-hop. For the next album, he's trying to bring a very powerful new sound. He's an innovator. He puts out a sound and people will copy it. He wants to set a trend. At this point I can't give any more details, but it's definitely going to be a remarkable project."

This year alone, Rotem has worked with Rihanna ("S.O.S."), Rick Ross ("Push It") and the Game ("The Doctor's Advocate," "California Vacation"). His latest projects include new tracks by Jennifer Lopez, JoJo, Mya, Natasha Bedingfield, Ashley Tisdale and Jesse McCartney.

Oh yeah, he's also worked with Dr. Dre on the Detox album (see "Meet Super-Producer J.R. Rotem: The Man Game Calls 'The White Dr. Dre' ").

"He's gotten a few tracks from me for it, and I've heard vocals on some of my tracks," Rotem said. "But with Dr. Dre, he might record 100 tracks and choose his favorite 15 or something. I don't want to jump the gun and say I'm going to be on the album."

Rotem also just inked a deal with Epic Records for his new imprint, Beluga Heights.

"We sat down with everybody," the producer said of the courting process for his label. "I learned that when you get into business with somebody on an exclusive level, you need to really connect with the point people. In this situation, there was no contest as to who we connected to the most. It just felt right to go with them."

First on his roster is 16-year-old Miami rapper Sean Kingston.

"He's incredible," J.R. boasted of his protégé. "I'm giving him his own sound, his own identity. When I work with established people, there's already precedents to their sound, so I have to step it up some and give the J.R. twist to it. With Sean, I'm the one who's actually establishing his sound."

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For The Record: Quick News On JoJo, Notorious B.I.G., Proof, Trey Anastasio, Muse, Nintendo Wii & More

15 Dec 2006 18:35:00 EST

JoJo celebrates 16th b-day in style; police investigation involving Biggie case launched; Proof LP due next year.
By MTV News staff

Think your 16th birthday was sweet? JoJo got the royal treatment Thursday night when Seventeen threw a bash for her at the boutique Carnaval in New York's East Village. The event was also held to honor the pop prodigy for gracing the magazine's prom issue cover. Her fans, along with a fab fashionista — Heatherette designer Richie Rich — sang "Happy Birthday" as she blew out the candles on four raspberry-and-chocolate-vanilla mousse cakes. On Friday night (December 15), JoJo will hit the stage at Z100's Jiggle Ball at Madison Square Garden. ...

(Check out pics from JoJo's b-day bash right here.)

A Los Angeles police officer who filed a lawsuit claiming sexual misconduct against a former deputy chief is also charging she was targeted by the same official after he allegedly confiscated her computer containing critical information about the investigation of the Notorious B.I.G. murder case. According to the Los Angeles Times, a probe has been launched by the internal investigation arm of the Los Angeles Police Department to look into both matters. Attorney Bradley Gage, who is representing Sergeant Ya-May Christle in her case, is also one of several lawyers who sued the city and police department on behalf of the estate of the late rapper. Police Chief William J. Bratton issued a statement saying his precinct will comply with the investigation and turn over all relevant documents requested. ...

The final album recorded by D12's Proof, Time a Tell, will be released next year, according to The Detroit News. The 18-track effort by the rapper, who was killed during a dispute at a Detroit nightclub on April 11, was written and recorded in a single day in January. The LP will be released via Iron Fist Records, the label founded by Proof. ... Ex-Phish major-domo Trey Anastasio is facing a variety of charges after a police officer pulled him over early Friday morning in a town in upstate New York near the Vermont border, The Associated Press reports. Police are charging him with possession of a controlled substance, driving while intoxicated and — because he was driving with a suspended license — third-degree aggravated unlicensed vehicle operation. Police found painkillers and an anti-anxiety drug that was prescribed to someone else in his vehicle. Anastasio was released and will appear in court at a later date. ...

In just 35 minutes, Muse sold all 150,000 tickets to the massive concert they have planned for London's Wembley Stadium on June 16. An additional 42,000 tickets have been sold for the recently added show to be held the following day at the same venue. Muse are the first band announced to play Wembley since it was rebuilt. ... The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang tour was the highest-grossing one of the year, according to Billboard. Tickets for the trek, which started in August 2005 and lasted until November 25, 2006, amounted to about $437 million. Second was Madonna, whose Confessions tour made $195 million and was the top-grossing trek ever by a female artist. ... The Nintendo Wii has been a smashing success, but not in the way the company had intended. After a rash of reports of the straps breaking on the wandlike game controllers, causing them to fly off user's hands and smashing TV screens, Nintendo announced Friday that it would recall and replace 3.2 million straps for the unit's controllers. According to AP, the worldwide recall will replace the current slim strap with a beefier one, costing the company several million dollars. ...

Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson recently donated 36 electric guitars to Little Kids Rock, a program providing free instruments and instruction for public school students. Delson hand-delivered the guitars to Los Angeles' Nightingale Middle School. ... The Roots — who were recently nominated for two Grammys — are heading to South Africa for the first time as part of their ongoing world tour. The group is taking an unusual approach, following its Thursday performance on a flatbed truck in Johannesburg with shows in Cape Town on Friday and Durbin on Saturday. In February, the Roots will come back to North America for a three-month outing with Lupe Fiasco. That jaunt begins February 1 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and concludes with a two-night stand in Philadelphia on April 3-4. The collective is off to Australia after that. ...

The Internet was atwitter late Thursday night thanks to one phone number: (866) NEON-BIBLE. Why? That's the way the Arcade Fire chose to debut "Intervention" — the first song from their hotly anticipated new album, due in March on Merge Records. Fans who called the toll-free number were greeted with the sound of a creaky organ followed by a voice telling them to enter extension 7777 to hear "an important message from the founders of the Neon Bible program." After dialing the extension, "Intervention" — which has been a staple of the band's live set for a few years — plays. Influential BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe played the song on the air Thursday night. Friday morning, several music blogs began, um, "reporting" that the Arcade Fire's new album will be called Neon Bible — though a spokesperson for Merge told MTV News there is no album title yet, and the band is still mastering the record in London. ...

Ozzy Osbourne fans can expect to see the self-proclaimed Prince of Darkness on tour this spring, wife and manager Sharon Osbourne said during a recent appearance on the "Dr. Phil" show. Ozzy has been working on a pair of albums, the first due in February. The second will serve as the soundtrack to his long-in-the-works musical about Russian monk Grigori Rasputin. ... Meanwhile, Jack Osbourne is among the stars of the new CBS reality series "Armed & Famous," which follows five celebrities through the police academy and on patrol in Muncie, Indiana. "CHiPs" star Erik Estrada, "Jackass" wild man Jason "Wee-Man" Acuña, La Toya Jackson and WWE wrestler Trish Stratus are also featured. ...

Stephen Colbert and Decemberists multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk will compete in a guitar solo contest on "The Colbert Report" on Wednesday. The contest stems from a feud Colbert started when he accused the band of riding his coattails with a contest that asked fans to contribute animated footage for the Decemberists' new video. ... They Might Be Giants, Harry Shearer ("The Simpsons," "For Your Consideration") and "Late Show With David Letterman" musical director Paul Shaffer are among those converging at New York's Canal Room on Friday for Judith Owen and Harry Shearer's Holiday Sing-Along, put on by Shearer and his wife. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Tipitina's Foundation to aid the rebuilding of New Orleans' music culture in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

12.14.2006

Rihanna, Ludacris and KT Tunstall have been added to ABC's "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2007." All three acts will perform at Nokia Theatre Times Square in New York. In the meantime, Lady Sovereign has hopped onto the roster for "MTV Goes Gold: New Year's Eve 2007," for which she'll join other performers Nas, Gwen Stefani, Ciara and more. The show airs live December 31 at 11 p.m. ET, with a tape delay on the West Coast. And last but not least, Ruben Studdard is playing a free New Year's Eve show in Hawaii. The Honolulu Symphony will join the "American Idol" winner for the event, dubbed Gospel Goes Classic. ...

Kelis hosted Trace magazine's 10-year anniversary bash Wednesday night at Room Service nightclub in Manhattan. The R&B vixen was joined by her husband Nas, "Project Runway" winner Jay McCarroll and current Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera as they all toasted to the cultural mag reaching its diamond mark. Kelis, Snoop Dogg, supermodel Iman and Mya are set to appear in Trace's 10-year anniversary issue. ...

Harry Potter has a home in Georgia after all, The Associated Press reports. On Thursday (December 14), the state's Board of Education upheld a Gwinnett County school board decision denying a mother's request to have the volumes removed from library shelves. "It's mainstreaming witchcraft in a subtle and deceptive manner, in a children-friendly format," said Laura Mallory, the mother in question. She might challenge the board's ruling. ... Trick Daddy is hosting Christmas toy drives in Miami on the next two Saturdays in conjunction with his Trick Luvs Da Kids Foundation. Pitbull will also be in attendance. ...

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt aren't done adopting children, the actress told "Good Morning America" on Thursday, according to AP. "Now the questions are more when you have a mixed-race family, do you balance the races so there's another African person in the house for Z? So there's another Asian person in the house for Mad?" Jolie said, referencing Zahara and Maddox, two of the couple's three children. ... Katt Williams pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of carrying a concealed weapon and was sentenced to three years of probation on Thursday, AP reports. The Los Angeles judge also told him to pay restitution but gave him credit for the three days he spent in jail early last month. ...

Taking Back Sunday have recorded a version of "12 Days of Christmas" for AOL Sessions. A fan-made animated video is also circulating. ... Editors have released an EP of remixed tracks from The Back Room exclusively on iTunes. The U.K. rockers are currently recording their proper follo

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JoJo Tells You 'How To Touch A Girl,' But It's Not What You Think

07 Dec 2006 06:00:00 EST

'It's about how to win a girl over,' singer says of single, the first she had a hand in writing.
By Corey Moss

There's something JoJo wants everyone to know right away about "How to Touch a Girl," the next single from her sophomore LP, The High Road. "It's not the way it sounds," the 15-year-old pop star said during a break from shooting the video. "It's kind of about how to win a girl over and the things you can do to get to her heart."

(Watch a smiling JoJo on the set of her colorful new video right here.) "How to Touch a Girl" is the first single the singer had a hand in writing, so when it came time to put it to film, she stayed heavily involved. "I'm very hands-on," JoJo said. "I cast everyone in my videos, I work closely with my stylist and my makeup and hair and I just make sure that everything is as I want it. Sometimes I don't know what I want, but I do know what I don't want, so if someone proposes an idea to me, I will say, 'No, let's do it this way' or 'This makes me uncomfortable.' " For "How to Touch a Girl," JoJo decided to tell the story of the song, but not through herself. "We hired another couple so we could narrate the story through them," she explained. "I'm performing, and there are a lot of different vignettes and a lot of beautiful lighting techniques that we're using. We hired a band, and there's a performance shot and a lot of interactions and it all ties in at the end with my performances and the couple. And at the end, my guy comes." Now that the video is finished, JoJo plans to spend much of December playing holiday radio festivals — in September, she told MTV News she'd put together her first band for those gigs (see "JoJo Assembles First Band, Plans To Hit The High Road This Winter"). She's also got a little celebrating to do on December 20, her 16th birthday. "I'll probably just stay home," JoJo said. "Really, what is most important to me is being with my family and friends, so if I get that, then that would be great. And if I get a car, that's just an added bonus." JoJo's already thinking about her third album, although the sometime actress, seen this year in "RV" and "Aquamarine," plans to make a movie or two in between. "I don't know what yet, because I am focused on the music right now, but I am reading some scripts and there are some really cool ones out there," she said. "I love doing it, and it just keeps your face out there."

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Diddy Enjoys His 'Most Heartfelt #1' As Press Play Tops Albums Chart

25 Oct 2006 13:06:00 EDT

JoJo, Ruben Studdard also crack top 10.
By Chris Harris, with additional reporting by Jayson Rodriguez

It's been five years since the release of Diddy's last studio LP, The Saga Continues. And although he hasn't spent that time resting on his laurels — he's been busy overseeing his Sean John and Bad Boy empires, performing on Broadway, running the New York City Marathon, developing his own line of commercial fragrances, toiling to promote voter registration and many other endeavours — there's a lot riding on this long-in-the-making LP, which debuts at #1 on next week's Billboard albums chart.

"This #1 right here is probably the most heartfelt one to me," Diddy told MTV News on Tuesday evening. "Because this is the only album where it wasn't about the extra drama that was going in my life; it was about the music. Also, being away for five years and the climate of this industry, nothing is a given. And to come out and have a #1 album on my fifth album, it's definitely one of the greatest feelings. I'm just appreciating it more and understanding it, after all the ups and downs in my career."

Press Play — which features contributions from Mary J. Blige, Brandy, Keyshia Cole, Christina Aguilera, Ciara, Nas, Big Boi and Cee-Lo, among others — scanned 170,500 units in a rather tepid week at retail outlets, but it was more than enough to earn Diddy the third #1 of his solo career: 1997's No Way Out topped the charts with 561,000 scans, and 2002's We Invented the Remix opened at #1 with 255,000-plus scans. (The Saga Continues and 1999's Forever both debuted at #2.)

Diddy's was one of 18 new releases to make it into next week's Billboard albums chart, according to the latest SoundScan totals. This chart's #3 belongs to JoJo's latest, The High Road, which sold more than 108,000 units its first week in stores. Also debuting in the top 10 are country musician Dierks Bentley's Long Trip Alone, which scanned more than 82,000 copies, and "American Idol" season-two champ Ruben Studdard, whose latest, The Return, opens at #8 with more than 70,000 sold.

Evanescence's The Open Door will spend a second week at #2 with 112,000 scans, while Justin Timberlake's Futuresex/ LoveSounds climbs three spots with 99,000 in week-six sales. Rod Stewart's Still the Same ... Great Rock Classics of Our Time falls five slots from #1 to #6 with 79,000-plus scans, while Hinder's Extreme Behavior climbs two spots to #7, selling close to 76,000 units. Tony Bennett's Duets: An American Classic slips to #9 with 68,000 scans, and the Killers' Sam's Town rounds out the top 10 with nearly 62,000 copies sold.

Other debuts include Vince Gill's These Days (42,000 scans to land at #17), Frankie J's Priceless, which bows at #30 with sales of 26,000, and Devil's Got a New Disguise: The Very Best of Aerosmith which enters at #33 with 23,000 scans. Meanwhile, Hi-Tek's Hi-Teknology, Vol. 2 bows in the #38 slot, chalking up 22,000 in first-week sales, and Sarah McLachlan's Wintersong lands at #42 with sales at 19,500. Just making the top 50 is Xzibit's latest, Full Circle, which enters at #50 on 16,700 scans.

Checking the debuts further down the chart, Cradle of Filth's Thornography lands at #66 with 13,000 copies sold, followed at #72 by the latest Swishahouse collection, The Day Hell Broke Loose, Vol. 3, which sold 12,700 units in its first week. Primus pops up at #105 with They Can't All Be Zingers: The Best of Primus selling to the tune of 9,100, while the Shiny Toy Guns debut at #131 with 6,900 copies of their We Are Pilots being carried away from the nation's record shops. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes land at #169 with Love Their Country racking up 5,400 in week-one sales, and It Dies Today's Sirens follows at #174 with 5,300 scans.

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New Releases: Diddy, JoJo, Xzibit, C-Murder, Ruben Studdard & More

17 Oct 2006 06:01:00 EDT

Also due Tuesday: Frankie J, Glenn Danzig, Jeremy Enigk, Badly Drawn Boy, It Dies Today, Hi-Tek.
By Kurt Orzeck

Mo' Diddy: It's been five years since we last heard a batch of new material from Diddy — even though he's been doing just about everything else in the meantime, between the clothing lines, record-label signings and humanitarian efforts. The mogul/artist/fill-in-the-blank is re-entering in style, getting big names to help with the Press Play festivities: Christina Aguilera ("Tell Me"), Nas and Cee-Lo ("Everything I Love"), Mary J. Blige ("Making It Hard"), Jamie Foxx ("Partners for Life"), Mario Winans ("Through the Pain (She Told Me)"), Brandy ("Thought You Said"), and Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger. Plus, behind the boards he's got Kanye West, Will.I.Am, Big Boi, Mobb Deep's Havoc, Timbaland and the Neptunes. Now there's a guy with a few friends.

This week's second most impressive guest list belongs to Hi-Tek, who roped in Nas, Busta Rhymes, Common, Talib Kweli, Jadakiss, Papoose, Bun B and Ghostface Killah for Hi-Teknology 2: The Chip. Going above and beyond the call of duty, he tapped Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, Slim Thug and Raphael Saadiq for three tunes that appear on a special edition only available at Best Buy stores. That set also comes with a bonus DVD loaded with videos, a documentary and more.

JoJo's Mojo: Expect to see a lot of JoJo this week — on MTV, "The Today Show" and beyond — as she hops back from the big screen to the music world for The High Road. Her "Too Little Too Late" single is skittering up the charts, but — shocker! — there are other tracks on the album as well: "Let It Rain," "Good Ol' " and "Note to God," among others. Oh, and there's a bonus DVD with plenty of JoJo fruits as well.

Circling Around: Xzibit has some mighty hip-hop competition this week in the form of Diddy, but his fans should be coming around for Full Circle. Too Short ("Movin' in Your Chucks"), Kurupt ("Say It to My Face," "Movin' "), DJ Quik ("Poppin' Off") and T-Pain ("On Ball") have all hopped onto the affair, which furthers Xzibit's pattern of releasing an album every two years since he burst onto the scene in '96.

Murder Is the Case: Also in the rap mix is C-Murder, the criminally prone younger brother of Master P who is reservicing his LP The Truest Sh-- I Ever Said with five additional cuts he laid down after getting out of prison: "I Want It," "I Live in the Ghetto," "Calliope," "On My Block" (featuring Bootleg of the Dayton Family) and "Die for Mine" (featuring B.G.). There's also a bonus DVD with a 60-minute documentary hosted by B.G., plus behind-the-scenes material and videos to boot.



			MTV News RAW: Diddy The rapper/producer tells MTV why listeners have no choice but to 'Press Play', and explains why there's a bed in his studio.

Studly Efforts: He's won "Idol," Grammy-nomination honors and sold more than 3 million albums, but Ruben Studdard clearly has an appetite for more. On The Return, he redoes "If Only for One Night" — Rube's version has more in common with Luther Vandross', as opposed to original singer Brenda Russell's — as well as three songs he co-wrote: "I'm Not Happy," "Blow Ya Mind" and "To Tha Crib." The velvet teddy bear gets some production boosts from Scott Storch, Ne-Yo, Bryan-Michael Cox and Dre & Vidal. As it turns out, Ne-Yo and Cox also lend support to Latin R&B prince Frankie J with his Priceless album, which is peppered with guests Chamillionaire, 112's Slim and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.

Weird Stuff: This week's crop of new releases is a strange one indeed:

When it comes to being odd, no band does it better than Primus, and they don't fall short this week with their Primus Singles: They Can't All Be Zingers CD and "Blame It on the Fish" DVD releases. On the DVD is a 30-minute documentary in which leader Les Claypool, playing a 102-year-old, talks about what life has been like for Primus into the year 2065.

Badly Drawn Boy is also pretty batty, and to coincide with the release of his Born in the U.K. LP this week, he's put up a contest on his Web site that asks viewers to choose their favorite fish-and-chips restaurant in England. Or, more specifically, "the chance to vote for your favourite local 'Batterie' and gamble the fishy reputation of your regular chish 'n fip shop." The contest prize? Nothing.

It Dies Today haven't exactly made a reputation for themselves as a family-friendly band, after touring as part of Ozzfest and with Trivium, Machinehead and other brutal bands. But as it turns out, "Sacre Coeur" — a song featured on their new release, Sirens — is actually named after a Parisian church where singer Nick Brooks says, in a press release, "I hopefully plan on proposing to someone there someday."

A mishmash of "Whatever Happened To ... ?" musicians — including members of Jellyfish, the Candy Butchers, Self, Semisonic and Papas Fritas — have joined forces for L.E.O. It isn't exactly a cover band but tries its best to channel prog-rock legends ELO all the same with Alpacas Orgling. It's doubtful that when those guys headed to the studio they limited themselves to ingesting only bread, water, eggs, coffee and whiskey, but that's exactly what Denison Witmer did for Safe Away, which is being reissued this week with a bonus EP.

To close out a 30-year career that has seen way too much hair and too many half-hearted reunions, Twisted Sister are regrouping one last time for ... a Christmas album? Yes, it's true: With singer Dee Snider leading the pack, the band bizarrely runs through "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," "Heavy Metal Christmas (The Twelve Days of Christmas)" and other selections that will lead fans to say, "Uh ... OK." Can you take it?

Toronto quartet the Sadies have crafted the soundtrack to "Tales of the Rat Fink," a film that lives up to its odd mantle: It revolves around cartoonist/custom-car designer Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and his anti-Mickey Mouse character, Rat Fink. The soundtrack is heavy on instrumental surf music, while the film features vocal contributions from "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, the Smothers Brothers, John Goodman, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons and other people you wouldn't expect.

Also getting back together — a whopping 27 years after issuing their last studio LP — are all-women punks the Slits, with frontwoman Ari Up leading the pack. Equally surprising is that they've only come up with enough new material for an EP, Revenge of the Killer Slits, although it does feature appearances from such question-mark contributors as Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook and Adam and the Ants axeman Marco Pirroni. Oh, three daughters also help out: Cook's child Holly, Mike Jones' daughter Lauren, and Phoebe, who calls Slits guitarist Tessa Pollitt mom. Even if it's just an EP the Slit