March 28, 2024

Review Category : TMZ Music News

Outkast Turns 20: A Look Back At Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, By The Numbers

1994 was an incredible year for hip-hop, and particularly its new blood. It brought us debuts from Nas and The Notorious B.I.G., as well as new discs from the likes of the Roots and Gang Starr. It was also the year that Outkast put themselves and on the map, and helped shine a brighter light on their native Atlanta.

With their debut album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, the duo of Andre and Big Boi ‒ just 18 and 19, respectively ‒ laid a groundwork for what would become a legendary career.

Today, that seminal debut turns 20. Full of smoked-out funk and rhymes that balance pimp-talk and self-awareness, we take a look at the disc by the numbers.

31: Letters in the Album Title
According to Oxford, the longest word in the dictionary has 45 letters. Though it’s not quite as long, and not in the dictionary (though let’s be real, it should be), the album’s title comes close, with a whopping 31 letters. Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik definitely rolls off the tongue better than pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis, too.

17: Verses from Both Andre and Big Boi
The two fresh-faced MCs struck a perfect balance on their debut, as they each rapped the same number of verses. It averages out to one per song on the 17-track release, though some had more (two each on “Player’s Ball”) and some less (none on “Funky Ride”).

20: Peak Position on Billboard 200
With the five albums that followed their debut, Outkast always reached at least No. 2 on the Billboard 200. However, with Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, the duo couldn’t climb higher than the 20th spot. Still, the ...

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Will Rita Ora Have The Song Of The Summer?

One of the bigger bummers about living in New York is that when Song of the Summer Season (also known as summer) rolls around, you’re stuck without a car to blast it in and cruise aimlessly with your friends. Last time someone I know danced her way through a subway station, she got stopped by a grizzled old man who told her, “Stop doing that with your body.” Still, I might just have to risk it with Rita Ora‘s “I Will Never Let You Down.”

I mean, it would take a lot of willpower to ignore the call set forth by the track’s infectious, ’80s-throwback chorus, where Rita repeatedly coos the titular lyrics over an explosive, Whitney Houston-esque instrumental. As someone who just lost a stare down with a bite-size Butterfinger, I don’t have that willpower.

Anyway, I got to meet up with the girl behind the Ora and chat about her new single, plus that sophomore album that’s on its way. (Oh, and ripping off Zac Efron’s shirt at the 2014 MTV Movie Awards.) As it turns out, the Whitney vibes were totally intentional!

“I love the feeling of ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody‘ and ‘How Will I Know,’” Rita shared. “[Whitney Houston] was a queen at doing love songs you could dance to,” which is something the U.K. pop singer aimed to achieve with her own summer-jam hopeful.

By the way, “I Will Never Let You Down” was written and produced by boyfriend/mega-famous DJ Calvin Harris. ...

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Neon Trees Frontman: ‘Technology Has Screwed Up My Love Life’

Celebrities may be getting verified accounts on Tinder, but don't expect Neon Trees' Tyler Glenn to be signing up any time soon. Just take a listen to album-openers on the recently released Pop Psychology "Love in the 21st Century" and "Text Me in the Morning."

"Songs like 'Love In The 21st Century' and 'Text Me In The Morning' I think speak to sort of my generation and younger that are kind of experiencing romance through their phones and their computers," Glenn told MTV News. "I don't know how great it is, really."

That sentiment comes through clearly in those two jams, which feature lyrics like: "Broken heart technology/Your kisses taste so sweet/But then you click delete." Yikes. That's a swipe to the left to the heart.

"[Technology has] also kind of screwed up my love life a little bit because I'm 30 now and I just came out as gay and I'm trying to figure out how to navigate not having to use apps," Glenn added.

The Mormon singer recently came out in Rolling Stone, an experience that has thus far been positive for Glenn — except, of course, he still has to navigate the tangled dating world.

"Apps kind of become this hookup-based thing, even for my straight friends who use Tinder it's kind of like window-shopping," he said. "I don't know if that's essentially healthy for a passionate relationship with another human being."

What do you think of Glenn's assertion? Is tech useful when it comes to love? Or is it all one big malfunction?

...

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‘The Other Woman’ Cast’s Guide to (Not) Cheating

How easy is it to avoid cheating on your significant other? Though most of us would say, "pretty easy," the answer isn't as obvious as you may think — at least according to the cast of the new comedy "The Other Woman."

"Everyone goes through a betrayal in their life," Kate Upton, one of the movie's stars told MTV News, "whether it's from a friend, or family, or boyfriend."

The film sees a trio of actresses — Upton, Cameron Diaz and Leslie Mann — discovering that they're each being cheated on by a handsome New York businessman played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. And these three very different ladies begin to bond with one another, despite the cheating.

It's a premise that might not work as well if three guys were involved, according to actor Taylor Kinney.

"If your girl's running around, my buddy's not gonna be the dude she's running around with," Kinney joked.

And Coster-Waldau just doesn't think guys would be able to pull off the kind of payback the ladies are able to achieve in the film.

"I don't think guys would be that creative," Coster-Waldau said.

So what if the worst happened and your significant other messed around? In the film, when the three find out that each is "the other woman" in their man's life, they decide to hit him where it hurts: his wallet.

In real life, though, there are other options than revenge.

"Booze," Mann joked about how to deal with a cheater.

"Boozin' it with the girls," Diaz chimed in. More seriously, the star suggested that the jilted should, "Just walk away. In ...

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RZA To Raekwon: ‘Forget The Money’

It was just days ago that RZA said that he and Raekwon had 30 days to work out their differences or the upcoming Wu-Tang Clan album, A Better Tomorrow,, would either drop without the Chef or be shelved altogether. But those differences may be too difficult to move past.

"His demands are not unreasonable as who he is and the value of what he brings to any industry, but being that Wu-Tang is a conglomerate, a big conglomerate of 10 to 12 people, those demands can't be met," RZA said on "Sway in the Morning."

The two Clansmen have been going back and forth — both in interviews and in private — for some time now, as they try to work toward the release of the first Wu album since 2007 (the same year that they were last in the studio together). In order to do that, RZA said, individuals will need to make sacrifices that they otherwise wouldn't be expected to.

"If I come into an ensemble film, and we got all these big names, somebody's not gonna get their full pay, because the budget can't sustain it," he continued. "And we in a situation right now where the budget can't really sustain what he's demanding, and for that to be equal across the board. And not even equal; even if we was to say, 'Well, he gets a percentage more than him or a percentage more than him,' what he's demanding takes so much weight on the budget that the record can't be done."

The production ...

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Dane DeHaan Finally Divulges His ‘Amazing Spider-Man 2’ Secret

Fans have been looking forward to "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" for years, and MTV News has been asking Dane DeHaan if he's playing the Green Goblin for almost that long.

It wasn't until the red carpet premiere in New York — and after all the posters and trailers revealed Harry Osborn's fate — that DeHaan finally, finally admitted that, yes, he is the Green Goblin.

Better late than never, I guess.

Now that he could openly talk about becoming the Green Goblin for "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," DeHaan opened about the how he worked with the production team to develop a look that was both new and respectful of the classic design.

"We went through a couple incarnations of it and ultimately tried to make it more and more organic and more real and made sure it tied in with Harry's storyline," he said. "There is still a lot of Harry in the Goblin, and we wanted to honor what the Goblin's always looked like. But we knew I couldn't be walking around in a purple skirt and tank top and a skull cap."

Making a new Goblin for DeHaan meant striking a balance through references to the elements of the original costume in creative ways.

"We went to great lengths to make sure we honored it, and those shapes are still there. The hair is still in the same shape that the cap is in. The smile. The ear tech represents the ears," he said. "It was a process, but I'm really happy with what we came up with."

"The Amazing Spider-Man 2" opens ...

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Nicki Minaj On Her Part In ‘The Other Woman’: Just Getting ‘My Feet Wet’

For musicians looking to make the leap into the acting world, the first step into the movie world is one that is carefully taken. But for Nicki Minaj, it just sort of happened.

The Young Money MC didn't even know "The Other Woman" was filming when she got the call to play Lydia, the assistant to Cameron Diaz's Carly, a lawyer caught in a twisted love square with a married man, his wife and another mistress. Lydia herself is no stranger to playing the game — both she and her current husband were married when they met — and she gives Carly the sage advice that "selfish people live longer."

And while the Young Money MC admitted her role was "very tiny," it was enough as she put it, to "get my feet wet." And she knows that, eventually, she'll be ready to dive into acting head-on.

"It gave me an idea as to what the world would be like... And now that I know it's something I can do, I think I want to expand a role eventually" she told MTV News earlier this week.

But before that, Nicki has her highly anticipated third studio album to put out — her first since 2012's Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded. And while that project — one she's been putting in overtime on to prove that she is one of "the greats" — she's still keeping an eye out for her the perfect role.

"I am going on auditions, and I'm trying to find the right role with the right director and the right writers," ...

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‘Divergent’ Producer Shares The Scoop On More Screen-Ready YA Reads

When "

Shahbazian, a producer on "Divergent," has a unique perspective that comes from not just adapting books, but writing them. With his new YA sci-novel, "Scan," about to be released, and with a host of hotly-anticipated YA projects coming to theaters this year, MTV News emailed the multitalented author and producer — who writes under the pen name Walter Jury — to give us some inside scoop on his upcoming novel with co-author S.E. Fine, the growing popularity of YA sci-fi, and the books he's most looking forward to seeing on screen.

Although "SCAN" doesn't have a movie deal yet, it's practically begging to be brought to Hollywood: there are zany gadgets, secret aliens, thrilling action sequences, and an amazing hero in the form of Tate, a Macgyver-esque teenage smartypants who has been unknowingly training his entire life to save the world from intergalactic war.

Shabazian describes his protagonist as having, "a polished skill set and discipline akin to Jason Bourne, but in a teenager's body." In other words, a brilliant trained assassin whose only weakness is that he's also a walking bag of hormones.

When the book hits shelves, it'll be the latest entry into a blooming field of YA sci-fi titles: coming alongside "Grasshopper Jungle" (in which a man-made virus transforms afflicted humans into giant, horny preying mantises), and "The 5th Wave," which follows the aftermath of an alien invasion that wipes out 99% of Earth's population. In "SCAN," there's an added twist to its extraterrestrial conflict — a population of aliens living on earth who don't actually know ...

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