The Killers' Brandon Flowers
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

The news happens all the time, even while you're catching up on beauty sleep. Check out this brief rundown to bring you up to speed this morning — a quick heads up from your friends at MTV News.

Here's what we've got:

DJ Khaled has a pretty sweet setup: He's creating hit songs ("We Takin' Over," for example) without writing, producing or even really performing on the track. Want to follow his lead? Khaled shared his seven collabo commandments with us. "I get all my beats first, straight up," the DJ revealed. After that it's about drafting a game plan and putting together the perfect team for each track. Take notes. ...

Slayer and Marilyn Manson are touring together this summer, but while the acts are co-headliners, Manson has last licks every night. "He wanted to close every day, and we're like, 'Hey, knock yourself out,' " guitarist Kerry King told us. The unlikely pairing is "definitely going to be weird," King said, but it could work — if Manson picks the right set list. "If he comes out and plays 'Tainted Love,' half the place is going to leave." ...

Following the Tom Hanks model is a good bet for a lasting acting career, but Zac Efron is doing the opposite. The "High School Musical" star spilled details to us on his upcoming movie "Seventeen," which plays like a reverse "Big" — in "Seventeen," the main man is a grown man who reverts to his high school self. "I hope I don't play the old guy," Efron laughed. And he's not sure what he'll be playing in "Haunted High School Musical" — the big-screen sequel to the TV movie hit — if anything at all. "At this point, it is not in my hands." ...

Quote of the Day: "Every day that I knew Frankie, I grew a little more colorful inside. Her vibrance, it dyed me forever." — Frankie Abernathy's sister Mamie

Here's what everyone else is talking about:

The San Diego Union-Tribune has announced the lineup for the city's annual Street Scene festival. The Killers, Panic! at the Disco, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Social Distortion, Spoon, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and The Academy Is ... are on board for the September 22-23 event. Tickets go on sale Saturday. ...

Paris Hilton is using her time in jail to reflect on improving her life, and her plans include more charity work and less time spent with "toxic" people, TMZ.com reports. The extra-helpful gossip site even jumps in with some suggestions for which friends to dump. Paris should cut ties with Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie and Steve-O, TMZ advises, and spend more time with Dakota Fanning. ... Paris could be released on Monday, and her neighbors aren't looking forward to her impending return — and the media presence that will undoubtedly come along with it. Perez Hilton got his hands on a flyer distributed by a couple of Hilton's Hollywood Hills neighbors, calling for locals to "take a united stand" by reaching out to the authorities in an effort to prevent a repeat of the "intolerable" press attention. ...

The morning after New York rapper Stack Bundles was laid to rest, the body of aspiring rapper Charles White was found in the Queens neighborhood of Springfield Gardens, killed in a shooting that police believe may be retaliation for Stack's death, WABC reports. ...

Ra Ra Riot announced Friday that they will carry on as a band without late drummer John Pike, who died earlier this month. "As we continue, the pain of missing a dear friend will remind us how much we loved him. Coinciding with the wishes of John's family, we have decided to continue onward." ...

Suge Knight participated in a live chat with The Washington Post readers on Monday, sharing details of his upcoming reality show (which attempts to set 20 troubled kids on the right path, and will feature appearances by Lil Wayne and T.I.) and his new discovery Rock Star ("He's like a 2000s MC Hammer). Knight also revealed that Biggie, Pac and Jay-Z are on his greatest MCs list — and even laughed off a comment that people who work for him may "get shot mysteriously." ...

Lindsay Lohan's party is over. The July 2 birthday bash scheduled at Las Vegas' Pure nightclub has been canceled, People reported Monday. Lohan is currently in rehab (not a great precursor to a huge 21st b-day blowout) and the Pure proprietors were very understanding of the "unique circumstances" — or at least they said so in their statement. "We think the world of her and look forward to working with her in the future." ...

Look out, Harry Potter:Jack Black is enrolling in witch school — with a bunch of girls. Black will play a schoolteacher who discovers he's got the power in "Man-Witch," a comedy directed by Todd Phillips, Variety reports. ...

Put "The Six Million Dollar Man" on a budget and you get "The $40,000 Man," a movie spoof of the bionic series, focusing on an astronaut rebuilt in a cost-cutting effort. The comedy's script was co-written by John Francis Daley — baby geek Sam on Judd Apatow's "Freaks and Geeks" — and was bought by New Line, Variety reports. ...

And if you want a piece of "The Sopranos" before it all cuts to black, props from the show will be available at a Queens, New York, warehouse sale that begins today at 10 a.m., New York's Daily News reports. Furniture, lamps and books from the set will be up for sale, but you won't find any of the show's scenery stars — like the bowling bag that held Ralphie's head — according to the paper.

• The Killers
• Panic at the Disco
• Paris Hilton
• Stack Bundles
• DJ Khaled

Stack Bundles
Photo: Riot Squad

Dip Set Byrdgang member Stack Bundles was killed early Monday morning (June 11) in his hometown of Far Rockaway in the New York City borough of Queens. He was 24.

Police said that the rapper was shot in the head and neck as he entered his apartment building. The shooter or shooters fled, The New York Times reports, and no arrests have yet been made. Authorities said the case remains under investigation. DJ Envy at New York radio station Hot 97 announced on the air Monday morning that Stack had been shot to death. Envy also reported that Stack was seen at New York nightclub Stereo as late as 4:30 a.m. on Monday.

"The Dipset/Byrdgang family is deeply saddened by our loss," ByrdGang manager Yandy Smith said in a statement. "Not only did we lose a member but we lost a brother and a friend. Rayquon Elliot, a.k.a Stack Bundles, was a joy to be around, charming, very intelligent, compassionate and concerned about the upliftment and enrichment of his community and the people in it.

"We cannot stress enough that a young star's light was put out before he had a chance to shine in front of the world," the statement continued. "We would like this to be a lesson to the rap game ... too many of our talented artists are losing the battle of life before their voices have a chance to be heard."

While he hadn't yet attained widespread popularity, mixtape fans have been aware of Bundles' lyrical skills for several years. The rapper, who also led his own Riot Squad crew, first began attracting major attention as a member of DJ Clue's Desert Storm family. His work on freestyles alongside more established MCs, such as then-camp members Fabolous and Joe Budden, let the scene know immediately he could hold his own weight.

While he worked to secure a label deal, Stack released a myriad of solo mixtapes and appeared on Clue's street CDs. Last year, he popped up on Jim Jones' M.O.B. (Members of Byrdgang) mixtape (the same mixtape that introduced Jones' monster smash "We Fly High"), along with the currently incarcerated Max B.

Jones told MTV News last year that Stack had approached him one night in a club, and the only thing he liked more than Stack's audacity was his skill on the mic. Jones planned to not only release Stack's solo debut, but also to highlight him on Byrdgang releases as well.

On Monday morning, MTV News reached out to a grieving Jones, who said he needed some time to get his thoughts together before speaking on the death of his friend and artist.

MTV News will have more on this story as it develops.

[This story was originally published at 11:12 a.m. on 6.11.2007]

• Stack Bundles
• Jim Jones
• Dipset