Some are written entirely in emojis, others seem to be comic books brought to life, but no matter what, there seems to be a new standard for lyric videos: Go big or go home.

Danity Kane are taking that motto to heart with their just-released clip for “Lemonade.” In fact, they went straight-up Biggie with the whole thing — recruiting a group of kids to play dress-up an lip-synch the lyrics a la “Sky’s The Limit.”

And I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a group of girls work a lemonade stand quite like these three. They rock some killer shades and have a general DGAF look about them that most people don’t inherit until they’re at least 15. In fact, they don’t even look all that eager to sell you some fresh-squeezed lemons — they look to be just fine without your 50 cents.

“Lemonade” is the girl group’s first since splitting up back in 2009. The “Making the Band” alums announced their reunion at the 2013 VMAs, but recently became a trio when the exit of Aundrea Fimbres announced her exit.

Emily Blake

Kanye West may be one of the biggest stars around these days — grabbing as much attention for his marriage and public antics as his music — but don’t forget: He’s a hip-hop head at heart.

That fact is probably why he appeared in “Our Vinyl Weighs a Ton,” a documentary about Stones Throw Records, an outfit widely respected in rap’s underground. It’s also why he said what he did about the late J Dilla, one of the artists on the label and an individual whose work greatly impacted ‘Ye. It’s a fact that he’s admitted before (he said Dilla influenced Yeezus, for instance), and reiterated again in the film.

Dilla, a Detroit native who is regarded as a legendary producer and was a rapper, as well, passed away in 2006.

“We gotta make music and think, ‘If Dilla was alive, would he like this?’” Kanye said. “I have to work on behalf of Dilla. When I put a weird-ass Jamaican sample, it works at first but it’s not until I put the [makes discordant musical noise] that it sounds like art or sounds slightly wrong. And now it’ll go to the radio now that it’s wrong, motherf–ker. Now play this. Play this 5-minute song that completely f–ks up your programming. The best respect that we can pay to great artists that have inspired us so much is to never sell out.”

Check out the full half-hour clip below.

Adam Fleischer

Usually pouring water on ...

May 29, 2014 | No Comments on Kanye West Will ‘Never Sell Out,’ Thanks To J Dilla

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Listen Fif, I know you’re “not a damn ball player” and all. You’re a master hustler and music mogul. So, I took the liberty of redeeming your bad first pitch at Tuesday’s (May 27) Mets game.

Here you go, sir. A bona fide perfect first pitch:

You’re welcome.

But, while we’re at it, let’s take the pitch and spin up something worth laughing at.

Hero Cat threw a pretty decent first pitch (when you compare it to the ranks of other celebrity pitches). Maybe if you threw him, it would look a little better.

Still bad, but definitely funnier.

How about we take it to the “Candy Shop”?

Right into the crowd!

Better yet, let’s throw some shade at the cameramen who blew up your spot.

All the love, 50. All the love.

Jessica Hyndman

The people of Instagram have spoken, and there’s a new celebrity couple in power.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have officially taken the crown for the most-liked Instagram photo with their “You may kiss the bride” moment from their posh wedding in Florence, Italy. Kim posted the pic a mere two days ago, and already it’s nearing the 2-million mark, which is a record, according to People.

What makes it all even more momentous is the fact that they kicked Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez out of the throne in the process. Back in January — a couple months after the young could broke up — Justin shared a photo of the two cuddling, accompanied by the caption “Love the way you look at me.” The picture had Beliebers and Selenators everywhere pining for a reunion — and double-tapping to the tune of 1.8 million “likes,” enough to make Instagram history.

So can Jelena take back the throne? We’re guessing their previous photo won’t be able to pull ahead, so they’d have to make amends and get to cuddling again.

Emily Blake

Former Swedish House Mafia members Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso made it Facebook official on Thursday (May 29): A joint album is in the works. The producing duo have a long history together before and after their work on SHM, but this will be their first-ever album release.

They both took to Twitter to announce the news after Zane Lowe opened his radio show teasing their new track, “This Time We Can’t Go Home.”

“So like Zane said, me and @axwell are finishing our first album together and he played a small clip tonight. This time we cant go home,” Ingrosso wrote, while Axwell said he was “looking forward to this new journey!”

Since the end of SHM, Ingrosso and Axwell have continued to work together on a residency in Ibiza called Departures, but as we saw with the release of the SHM documentary, fans are still hungry for more. Luckily, the duo already have two performances slated for the coming months–Governor’s Ball in New York City, and at V Festival in the United Kingdom, and a promise of an upcoming tour.

The guys also launched their joint Facebook page, and it already has 2.3 million likes.

Elizabeth Lancaster

I'm either at mtv news or on the lower east side. follow meeee @lizzydl

In May 2012, The Julie Ruin, Le Tigre and Bikini Kill founder Kathleen Hanna — a personal artistic and feminist role model of mine and of many women and men who grew up admiring her work as a writer, singer-songwriter, activists, and one of the pioneers of the Riot grrrl movement (please watch the excellent documentary The Punk Singer about her) — sat down with writer Melissa Febos, author of Whip Smart, for an artist-on-artist conversation about the process of creating art, social responsibility, feminism and the relationships between women at BOMB Magazine.

Sure, the conversation is two years old, which is a million years old in Internet years, and I know no one wants to read long-anything anymore because we’re all too busy refreshing and scrolling through Instagram until our eyes start to cross (I… am… guilty, too…), but the piece has seen a resurgence online this week, and I highly encourage you to read the entire piece. (Also, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is 45 years old, but you should still read that, too.) Print it out if you have to. I can wait.

Okay, if you’re too busy and need to get to the Beyonce of it, know that Kathleen Hanna packaged up criticism of women and their art, bodies, and basic existence and then told haters to throw all that hate in a box to the left.

Here’s the brilliant quote:

“Beyoncé isn’t Beyoncé because ...

May 29, 2014 | No Comments on #tbt: Kathleen Hanna’s Empowering Beyonce Hater-Blocker Advice Is Still The Best

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