Pras
Photo: MTV News

HOLLYWOOD — There are many perks to being a member of a politically conscious group. Like, for instance, a direct line to Bono.

"I called Bono and said, 'I'm about to do something crazy and ask you something crazy,' " Fugees rapper Pras recalled recently. "He started laughing. I told him what I was doing. He heard it. He said, 'Look, if it's going to help you, you got my blessing.' So I respect him for that."

What Pras played for the U2 singer is his latest single, "Haven't Found," a remake of sorts of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."

"I'm a huge U2 fan," Pras said. "When you go take somebody's record, obviously you've got to be a fan of it. That's the only way it's going to come around the right way and not sound pretentious."

Pras has already shot the video, which can be viewed at www.haventfound.com. Fans can pause it and click on different areas of the screen for details on products used in the clip. "It's a new way to go interact with the videos," Pras said. "It's incredible."

"Haven't Found" is featured on Win, Lose or Draw, Pras' follow-up to 1998's Ghetto Superstar (see "Pras Taps Warren G, R. Kelly For New LP; Talks Fugees' Future"), which includes collaborations with Wyclef and Akon.

And speaking of Wyclef, Pras has reunited with his cousin and Lauryn Hill to work on the first Fugees album in almost 10 years (see "Fugees To Reunite In The Studio Once Hill Finishes Solo LP").

"We've been in the studio," Pras said of the group, which performed at the BET Awards (see "Destiny's Child Give Lap Dances, Fugees End Feud At BET Awards"). "We're trying to figure out how we're gonna do it, but we're working together."

• Pras

Wyclef
Photo: MTV News

On his fourth solo album, Preacher's Son, Wyclef Jean ascends a pulpit to proselytize and fantasize about a world free of gang violence, poverty and corruption.

In Clef's perfect hip-hop universe, beef is a four-letter word that never enters a rapper's vocabulary. "Imagine if Biggie and Pac never got shot and they both still was rulers of hip-hop," he raps on "Industry" before calling on modern rappers to settle their differences. "[What if] Nas and Jay-Z, they were still homies/ Squashed the beef with Ja Rule and 50/ And Benzino shook hands with Eminem/ And on the same record I heard Eve, Fox and Kim."

Other songs on Preacher's Son, which drops October 7, include "Next Generation," in which Wyclef contemplates life after death, and "Life in New York," which chronicles the ugliness of gun battles, "money, drugs and bitches" in the Big Apple.

Guests on the album include Scarface on "Next Generation," Patti LaBelle on "Family Reunion," Redman on "Baby Daddy" and Sharissa on "Take Me As I Am." Timbaland, Mobb Deep's Prodigy, Trick Daddy, Shells and U2 guitarist the Edge also contribute to the record. Wyclef recorded the disc in June and July at his New York studio, Platinum Sound.

Some might find it a bit hypocritical that Clef is calling for love in the hip-hop community when bad blood still exists between him and cousin Pras. Wyclef recently called his Fugees bandmate the Milli Vanilli of hip-hop and released a song called "Fake Ass Pras," which featured such scathing lines as "The fans want the Fugees back together/ The only thing they don't want is the third member/ ...Yeah, I seen your movie, son/ It made my stomach turn/ ... I'mma drop you harder than Sony did."

Rather than responding to Wyclef's jabs, Pras is focusing on his music. "I'm in the studio enhancing my career, and not making a pathetic attempt at destroying someone else's," he said.

Pras' second solo album, Cold Fire, is scheduled for year-end release and will feature around 16 songs, including the singles "One for my Ni**az" and "Light My Fire." Producers on the album include Kanye West (Jay-Z, Foxy Brown) and Salaam Remi (Fugees). Guests include Sean Paul, Sheek from the LOX, Sharli McQueen and Pras' crew: Mister, Tempamental and Robin Andre.

• Wyclef Jean
• The Fugees
• Pras

Hip-hop impresario Wyclef Jean has been tapped to host next month's 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards, an event that will also feature performances from the Backstreet Boys, U2, and Moby, among others.

Robbie Williams, Spice Girls, Ronan Keating, and Guano Apes will also take to the stage of the Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden on November 16 for the MTV Europe Music Awards, while Eiffel 65, Kelis, Alice Cooper, The Cardigans, Anastacia, Aqua, Moloko, and Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson will serve as presenters.

Robbie Williams and British pop diva/DJ Sonique lead all nominees for the 2000 MTV EMAS, as both have been nominated for four awards each. Williams' "Rock DJ" and Sonique's "Feel So Good" will square off against each other in the category of Best Song.

Following Williams and Sonique is a logjam of several multi-nominated artists, as Britney Spears, Madonna, Eminem, Travis, Bon Jovi, and Spice Girl Mel C have all received three nominations apiece.

For a complete list of 2000 MTV Europe Music Award nominees and categories, check out the MTV Europe Web site.

After being broadcast live across Europe on November 16, the MTV EMAs are tentatively set to air in the States on Monday, November 20.

• Backstreet Boys
• The Fugees
• Lauryn Hill
• Wyclef Jean
• Moby

While continuing to support his latest effort, "The Ecleftic - 2 Sides II A Book," Wyclef Jean is also branching out into mogul territory.

Wyclef has inked a joint venture with Clive Davis' J Records that gives the rapper his own record label. The 50-50 deal for Clef Records, the first such venture for Davis' label, will find Wyclef signing and producing new talent and J Records handling the sales, marketing, and promotion for the imprint.

"I feel honored and privileged that Clive Davis chose me as a musical partner to enter the new millennium," Wyclef said in a statement announcing the deal.

"Wyclef is one of the premier creative talents of our time," Davis said.

In the near future, Wyclef will be busy wrapping up projects with Earth, Wind & Fire and Product G&B albums, as well as prepping for his slot on the Campus Invasion tour. 'Clef will join De La Soul and Black Eyed Peas for that trek, which kicks off on October 3 (see "Wyclef, De La Soul, Black Eyed Peas Line Up Campus Invasion Dates").

For a full-length interview with Wyclef, check out the MTV News Online feature "Wyclef Jean: Mad Scientist."

• The Fugees
• Lauryn Hill
• Wyclef Jean
• Pras

After announcing their partnership weeks ago, Wyclef Jean, De La Soul, and Black Eyed Peas have hammered out the first stretch of dates for the latest edition of MTV's Campus Invasion tour.

After years of rock-heavy Campus Invasion outings, this hip-hop-flavored take on the annual college tour will first touch down on October 3 in Providence, Rhode Island, on the campus of Johnson & Wales University, with more dates lined up through the end of October.

As we previously reported, the trek will mark Wyclef's first extensive U.S. tour behind his recently released second solo effort, "The Ecleftic - 2 Sides II A Book" (see "Wyclef, De La Soul, Black Eyed Peas Set For Campus Invasion"). For De La Soul, the tour gives the group the opportunity to promote its "Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump," which hit stores last month, while Black Eyed Peas will get the chance to drum up support for its "Bridging The Gap," which arrives on September 26.

If you want to catch Wyclef, De La, and Black Eyed Peas, here's how the Campus Invasion itinerary looks so far (as always, tour dates are subject to change):

• 10/3 - Providence, RI @ Johnson & Wales University
• 10/5 - Charlottesville, VA @ University of Virginia
• 10/8 - Shippensburg, PA @ Shippensburg University
• 10/14 - Kent, OH @ Kent State
• 10/16 - De Kalb, IL Northern Illinois University
• 10/17 - Big Rapids, MI @ Ferris State
• 10/25 - Iowa City, IA @ University Of Iowa
• 10/26 - St. Louis, MO @ St. Louis University
• 10/27 - Columbia, MO @ University of Missouri
• 10/28 - Kirksville, MO @ Truman State

For more about the Campus Invasion tour, check out the Music section of MTV.com.

• Black Eyed Peas
• De La Soul
• The Fugees
• Lauryn Hill
• Wyclef Jean

With his new film, "Turn It Up," in theaters this week, and another film, titled "Higher Ed," in the can, Pras is now gearing up for his return to the music scene with a new album, due out early next year.

The new record will mark Pras' first solo effort since 1998's "Ghetto Supastar," an album that directly inspired the current film, which at one time shared the same title as the LP (see "Pras, Ja Rule Report From The Set Of 'Ghetto Superstar'").

But now Pras said he has had time to "regroup and get [his] whole mind back into the music thing" and is ready to "really come out full blast" with his sophomore record, whose title tips its cap to a certain civil rights documentary from the 1980s.

"Well, actually, I'm back home finishing my [new] album right now," Pras told MTV News. "I'm going to drop it at the top of next year, and it's going to be right this time.

he added. "The name of the album is 'Eyes On The Pras.' I've got maybe two or three guest appearances. I've got my man R. Kelly on it, Scarface, Tha Outlawz, and my man Warren G." [RealVideo]