Since Justin Timberlake is on his suit and tie s—, it’s only appropriate that he be invited to a proper formal event.
Timberlake is the latest boldface name added to the performance docket at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, which take place on Sunday, February 10.
Rihanna’s new Rolling Stone cover may come with the headline “Crazy in Love,” but she claims her relationship with Chris Brown is anything but.
The singer unexpectedly opened up about Brown’s role in her life, reiterating the “Nobody’s Business” stance from her recent Unapologetic album.
“I decided it was more important for me to be happy,” she tells RS. ”I wasn’t going to let anybody’s opinion get in the way of that. Even if it’s a mistake, it’s my mistake. After being tormented for so many years, being angry and dark, I’d rather just live my truth and take the backlash. I can handle it.”
RiRi acknowledges that her relationship with Breezy is no Meg Ryan movie, but she’s quick to note that it’s not as twisted as people may think. “When you add up the pieces from the outside, it’s not the cutest puzzle in the world,” she says.
“You see us walking somewhere, driving somewhere, in the studio, in the club, and you think you know. But it’s different now. We don’t have those types of arguments anymore. We talk about s—. We value each other. We know exactly what we have now, and we don’t want to lose that.” READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Four years ago, Chris Brown went from famous to infamous in the pre-Grammy incident heard ’round the world.
Today it felt a little like deja vu all over again. Some time last night or early this morning, Brown was involved in yet another physical altercation with yet another centerpiece of the Grammy Awards (which are just under two weeks away).
Based on various reports, the incident between Brown and Frank Ocean was not nearly as disastrous as the one with Rihanna, but it still left Ocean with a cut finger and Brown with another mark on his image. So will another violent altercation effect his presence at music’s biggest night? READ FULL STORY »
Today, Seattle duo Macklemore (pictured, right) and Ryan Lewis (left), hit number one on Billboard‘s Hot 100 with their college-anthem-turned-mainstream-smash “Thrift Shop,” unseating Bruno Mars’ “Locked out of Heaven,” which had held the pole position for six weeks.
When the rapper/producer pair’s independently produced album The Heist opened at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 last October, many music fans above the age of 21 were left wondering who Macklemore and Ryan Lewis even were. (Not us, of course. We chatted with Macklemore back in August.) But the monumental success of “Thrift Shop” has given them millions of listeners outside the college bubble.
EW recently chatted with the pair about their unexpected success, impressing Ellen DeGeneres, repping their hometown of Seattle, and how to thrift like pros: READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images
The year is not even a month old, but it’s already time to make your Spring and Summer festival plans. Coachella’s lineup should be announced shortly, but in the meantime, we can take a look at the always-eclectic batch of artists who will make their way to the Big Easy at the end of April.
The 2013 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival runs from April 26-28 and May 2-5 and features a wide-reaching list of headline-worthy names: the reconstituted Fleetwood Mac, Frank Ocean, Billy Joel, Maroon 5, Dave Matthews Band, Phoenix, the Black Keys, John Mayer (who just returned to the stage for the first time in nearly two years last night), B.B. King, and Hall & Oates. Jazz Fest is one of those everything-all-the-time festivals, so if you want to have an all-blues experience, that’s possible, but if you’re also just into jazz or zydeco or blue-eyed soul, you can have that experience too. And if you’re only into indie rock, Band of Horses is there to soothe what ails you.
Of course, there’s also the “Heritage” part of the festival, so essentially everybody in New Orleans who owns a drum will also be appearing on a stage somewhere. Those Treme extras will be rounded out by legends like Dr. John, Trombone Shorty, Allen Toussaint, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and dozens of others. Check out the entirety of the list here.
Tickets are on sale now. Who in this lineup are you most excited about?
Read More on EW.com:
Stevie Nicks talks to EW about 2013 Fleetwood Mac tour, reconnecting with Lindsey Buckingham, and why she’s addicted to ‘Call Me Maybe’
Frank Ocean, ‘Glee’, ‘Modern Family’ among GLAAD Media Awards nominees
Bruce Springsteen, the Who, Billy Joel, and Beatlevana: On the scene at 12-12-12
Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
A lot of people are concerned by the n-wordpalooza in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, by Nas isn’t one of them.
In an interview with MTV, the Life Is Good rapper said that not only did he see and enjoy QT’s latest work, but that he wasn’t fazed at all by the movie’s rampant use of the racial epithet .
“I didn’t see what the big fuss was about,” said Nas. “A movie about slavery and you don’t hear the n-word? Doesn’t make any sense.”
He went on to extol Tarantino’s virtues as a writer-director who doesn’t shy away from the nasty truthiness. ”He’s one of the greatest filmmakers of our generation, and we don’t go [to his movies] to see anything less than rawness,” he said. “He’s an artist, and artists have to express themselves.”
And Nas knows a thing or two about artistic expression becoming fodder for controversy: Back in 2007, the veteran rapper made headlines when he titled his ninth album N—–. After much ado, the Def Jam release was ultimately renamed Untitled.
Check out the clip of Nas’ comments to MTV in the video below, and let us know your take on the matter in the comments:
Image Credit: Everett Collection
Let’s hope you got some backwards clothes for Christmas.
To celebrate the two-decade mark of his So So Def label, Jermaine Dupri held a press conference in Atlanta today, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, to announce his plans to throw an anniversary concert next month — and it looks like Kris Kross scored a spot on the bill. (EW has reached out for confirmation.)
That’s right, the hip-hop duo of Chris Kelly and Chris Smith (or, as you may know them, Mac Daddy and Daddy Mac) will reunite onstage for the So So Def All-Stars Anniversary Concert, which will go down in Atlanta on Feb. 23.
Kris Kross and Dupri go way back, of course: the So So Def leader discovered the twosome at a shopping mall and introduced them to the national stage, where they’d go on to infect the early ’90s with their baggy backwards clothes and the tight hit single “Jump” — all before turning 14. The Chrises have kept pretty quiet since their 1996 album Young, Rich & Dangerous, so their one-night reunion presents a rare opportunity for fans old and new to jump, jump, jump along with the now-thirtysomethings.
Yet there’s plenty more nostalgia to be had; the event will also include performances by Xscape, Da Brat, Bow Wow, and Dupri himself. But none of those people gave us this:
Image Credit: Noel Vasquez/Getty Images
Nas fans who turned on Live! With Kelly and Michael last week were disappointed to find out that the Life Is Good rapper was absent. But the man has a good reason: vertigo.
Last Friday, Nasir Jones was hospitalized in New York for severe vertigo. The 39-year-old rapper became ill on a flight to New York and was taken directly to the hospital from the airplane, Live! hosts Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan announced on their program.
Nas is now in recovery, and was able to send out the following tweet:
“Peace y’all. I’m out of the ER & doin alright. I’m on bed rest for a few. Apologies to everyone @ Live w/ Kelly & Michael. I’ll make it up.”
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage
High-profile albums get delayed all the time, though rarely do pop stars find their work bumped in this climate because they smile too much.
But that’s apparently the reason M.I.A.’s label told her the world would have to wait until April to hear Matangi. During an interview promoting a performance at a festival in Australia, she told The Gold Coast, “At the moment, I’ve been told it’s too positive. So we’re having a bit of an issue at the label.”
“I thought I’d finished it,” she continued. “I finished it and then I handed the record in, like a couple of months ago. They’re like ‘You need to, like, darken it up a bit.’ I don’t know what it is but as soon as I work that out. It’s like, ‘We just built you up as the public enemy number one, and now you’re coming out with all this positive stuff.’” READ FULL STORY »
The streets is talking — and the Sundance Channel is listening.
The network has teamed up with Nokia Music for a new six-part documentary series titled New American Noise, and you can watch an exclusive preview of it here.
The project provides a window into the music scenes percolating in six key cities around the country, and the clip below offers a sneak peek at four of those locales: the atmospheric skies and indie-chill of Portland, the daggering-friendly vibes emanating from New Orleans’ bounce movement, the repurposed underground scene in gritty Detroit, and the busy streets where sub-rosa rap thrives in New York City (particularly Brooklyn).
In addition to those places, the series will include portraits of the Los Angeles and Atlanta scenes. The filmmakers behind the project include Abteen Bagheri (who handled New Orleans and Portland), Emily Kai Bock (NYC), Bob Harlow (Detroit), and Tyrone Lebon (ATL and LA).
The series will premiere on the Sundance Channel Jan. 18, but until then, get a taste of things to come in the video below:
