VH1 debuted the latest countdown in our long-running The Greatest series, the 40 Most Shocking Hip Hop Moments, this evening. If you missed it, don’t worry; it will rerun tomorrow night, Monday, September 19, at midnight. If you’re looking for the complete list, look no further. Here are the 40 Most Shocking Hip Hop Moments … so far!
50 Cent Changes His Movie’s Name After Chinua Achebe Protests 50 Cent‘s new movie just got a namechange thanks to a critically lauded Nigerian novelist. Chinua Achebe, author of 1958′s English-language riposte to Joseph Conrad, Things Fall Apart, threatened legal action against 50 Cent, whose new film has the same name, and turned down a $1 million settlement offer. Considering that the idiom comes from a Yeats poem, the novelist’s case isn’t necessarily that strong, but “Got sued by Chinua Achebe” is probably not something 50 Cent wants on his resume, so the movie is now titled All Things Fall Apart. (Sidenote: Does this mean Achebe is a Roots fan?) [The Guardian]
Big Sean Video Features Kanye West And Cheesecake
And don’t the two go hand-in-hand? The Hype Williams-directed video for Big Sean‘s “Marvin and Chardonnay” splits the difference between Williams’s 2005 clip for Kanye West‘s “Gold Digger” and “Best I Ever Had,” the Drake video that West directed. [YouTube]
Blink-182 Release New Song
Two weeks after premiering the video for lead single “Up All Night,” Blink-182 have released another cut from Neighborhoods (due out September 27). “After Midnight” is available as a free download for winners of a mind-numbingly simple stopwatch game that we nevertheless kept playing until we won (after 13 attempts). [Spin] [click to continue…]
Wayne’s “Jeggings” Dominate VMA Fashion Talk
Lady Gaga may have dressed in drag (including a fake penis!) but the underdog fashion statement of the Video Music Awards has turned out to be Lil Wayne‘s attire—specifically, the Tripp women’s leopard-print skinny jeans he sported during his show-closing performance of “How To Love” and “John.” As eagle-eyed criticsnoted, the style is available from East Village boutique Trash and Vaudeville (but also, unsurprisingly, from Hot Topic). Technically, they’re not jeggings, but that hasn’t stopped “Wayne’s Jeggings” from catching on, even as Twitter account @Waynes_Jeggings (naturally, @DrakesSweater also exists). [Us Weekly/Complex]
Altruism Alert: Linkin Park’s Benefit-Show Tsunami-Relief Fundraiser Nets $350K; 50 Cent Does His Part After Festival Set
The Linkin Park tsunami-relief show we reported on last month happened last night, after fans raised over $350,000 for Japan for Relief. [MTV] 50 Cent also played a benefit show (today, in fact) in Norway following his performance at the RxR Festival. He scheduled an aftershow to take place in the ballroom of the Clarion Hotel in Stavanger to raise money for the Utøya Fund, and invited survivors of the Utøya massacre to both shows and a meet-and-greet. (Bet you thought the 50 Cent altruism story was going to be about his appearance on Pauly D‘s album.) [NY Post] [click to continue…]
Currently creeping its way up the iTunes and pop radio charts, Gym Class Heroes’ debut single off of The Papercut Chronicles II now has a video! After a three-year hiatus, Travie, Disashi, Eric and Matt are back at it with “Stereo Hearts,” attempting to tug at our heartstrings via the alternative hip-hop sound that first met our ears on “Cupid’s Chokehold” in 2006, a video which included a then-unknown Katy Perry. In this Top 20 Video Countdownpremiere video, the band’s shadows come alive and help bring to life their sonic palate, ever-present while the clip incorporates imagery that spans breakdancing and The Beatles‘ Abbey Road references.
Front man Travie McCoy’s verses on “Stereo Hearts” sort of remind us of a 2011 take on 50 Cent’s “21 Questions,” gauging a lover’s loyalty, but doing so while feeding the stereo/love analogy that’s sweetly woven into the song. And even though we’re talking about boomboxes here, Maroon 5′sAdam Levine is transmitted through television screens in the window of a pawn shop in the vid, singing the chorus that will most assuredly get stuck in your head. With the sun shining brightly and leaves on the ground, this visual is seasonally appropriate and perfect for the transition from summer to autumn, the latter of which is precisely when their fifth studio LP drops.
50 Cent’s “I’m On It” Premieres; 50 Cent’s Tweets Confuse
“Man I’m not releasing a album i can’t believe interscope is this f—ked up right now. I apologize to all my fans,” 50 Centtweeted late last night, before “I’m On It” surfaced on Soundcloud, ostensibly uploaded by 50 himself. But when he threatened to leak a Dr. Dre single (he didn’t) and then tweeted this afternoon, “I don’t know how I can record 41 song for my album and the one song I give interscope leaks,” he completely turned us around. Is it damage control for his self-leak? Is he throwing his weight around for a release date? Is this all a worked shoot? Who can tell? [Twitter]
Rihanna Helps United States Navy Prevent The Sinking Of Its Battleship
The trailer for next summer’s Navy-vs.-robot-alien-things blockbuster Battleship (yes, based on the board game) debuted today, featuring Rihanna as part of a task force investigating a bizarre disturbance in the Pacific. (Hint: it attacks them.) [Yahoo] [click to continue…]
Dr. Dre cruises around Los Angeles in a Chrysler 300S playing an instrumental track through the sedan’s Beats by Dre speakers in a television spot that premiered on Sunday during the NBA finals. HipHopDX is reporting that the instrumental is the beat for a Dr. Dre/50 Cent collaboration from the long-promised Detox. Does this commercial lend support to the most recently rumored Detox release date?
What does Renee Graziano do when she’s not filming Mob Wives? Oh, you know, she just hangs around with 50 Cent. Graziano tweeted earlier today “Spent the day up @ GUNIT w the #MUSICMOGULMILLIONAIRE@50cent” and posted the picture of herself getting snuggly with 50.
50 Cent has come a long way since his Get Rich or Die Tryin’ days. Now that he’s in a more comfortable position than he was during his days trying to survive life in one of Queens’ roughest neighborhoods, he has the time, ability and opportunity to pursue some of his passion projects. Tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT, the fruits of 50′s labor and a new addition to the Emmy Award winning VH1 Rock Doc franchise, 50 Cent: The Origin of Me, will premiere on VH1, allowing the rough-and-tumble rapper to publicly and personally answer the question: Who is Curtis Jackson?
In the truth-seeking documentary film, 50 journeys to Edgefield, South Carolina to learn more about his great-grandfather Will Jenkins, triggering a domino effect of discovery within his family’s history. Warmly welcomed by the sisters of Buelah, his grandmother and adopted parent, we follow 50 as he receives help from genealogists, census data, and archivists to answer questions that, prior to shooting, he couldn’t have even imagined. “I didn’t expect to go back two-hundred years in my bloodline,” 50 admits of the project, noting, however, that he was aware of Edgefield’s intense race relations and ties to violent slavery in the past. “History can be ugly, but I’m willing to look at every angle to get the best possible picture.” And he did.
On Monday night, May 23 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, VH1 will be proud to present the television premiere of a brand new documentary film, 50 Cent: The Origin of Me. In the film, 50 Cent and a team of filmmakers take a trek from his hometown of New York City all the way down to the rural, small town of Edgefield, South Carolina, to explore 50′s ancestral heritage. In a story published on VanityFair.com, writer David Kamp posed a question to 50 that, at its heart, is integral in helping all of us understand the culture of violence that permeates our society: “Could it be possible that Edgefield’s violent code of honor had hopped cultural and geographical boundaries—first from masters to slaves, and then from southern freedmen to northern gangstas?”
This question, it seems, infuriated 50 so much that he asked for the cameras to be turned off, but not before replying, “I don’t necessarily see a connection between stuff that happened 200 years ago in Edgefield and stuff that happened to me on the south side of Jamaica, Queens. Some people just choose to be bad.”
