Maybe baby North has him in a sharing mood, but typically press-shy Kanye West will make a rare TV interview appearance on Friday, just two days before he makes history with his seventh
 MTV Video Music Awards performance.

West, who years ago declared a moratorium on interviews, giving only a handful since then, taped a chat with his baby's grandma, Kris Jenner, on Monday, for the Kardashian family matriarch's syndicated talk show, "Kris."

According to US magazine, the show will air on Friday and feature Yeezy discussing two-month-old North and his relationship with Kim. West will be among a galaxy of stars performing at Sunday night's 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, alongside Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and more.

The magazine reported that the intensely private West is "really bringing it" in the interview, during which he says he's "so in love" with Kim that he considered taking up sports; Kardashian dated NFL player Reggie Bush and was briefly married to NBA power forward Kris Humphries. The hour-long sit-down also reportedly has West talking about his struggles with the press and addressing President Obama's comments last month about how celebrities like Kim and Kanye have changed the idea of the American dream.

"There was not that window into the lifestyles of the rich and famous," Obama said. "Kids weren't monitoring every day what Kim Kardashian was wearing, or where Kanye West was going on vacation, and thinking that somehow that was the mark of success."

Alas, curious fans will ...

It had been a minute since many fans had seen Foxy Brown up close and personal, but that changed this past week when the Bedford-Stuyvesant femcee made a tearful appearance on "RapFix Live," as part of the unofficial kickoff to the 2013 VMAs in Brooklyn.

Sitting alongside fellow Brooklynite Big Daddy Kane, Foxy told host Sway that temporary hearing loss was only one of the issues she'd had to deal with in her career, which dates back to her breakthrough 1996 debut, Ill Na Na. Coping with rap's "rumor mill" has also come with the territory.

"I've been dealing with that since I was like 15-years-old," she admitted with a laugh.

One of the recent rumors has had her potentially joining independent powerhouse Rostrum Records, home to acts like Wiz Khalifa, Mac Miller, Boaz and Chevy Woods. Talk that Foxy could join the label began to swirl back in July when she posted a photo of Rostrum Vice President Arthur Pitt. The photo's caption read "LOL!!! MY RUSSIAN DUDE ARTIE PITT LIKE FOX SIGN THE DOTTED LINE!!!!!"

Foxy addressed the ensuing speculation on "RapFix Live," saying, "There have been offers, of course. I've only been signed to one label my entire career, which is Def Jam."

The rapper in fact signed a distribution deal with E1 Music in 2007 for her Black Rose Entertainment label, but failed to put out an LP during its duration.

"My bar is set so high that any label that I go to now has to be an incredible situation for me — financially ...

Lady Gaga's is the kind of uniquely Gaga video, full of eye-popping imagery and layered with meaning, that it's easy to assume her Little Monsters have been trying to dissect some of those crazy moments all day.

It premiered Monday (August 19) morning, the same day she confirmed she'll be opening the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards this Sunday, August 25 by performing the track for the first time.

So, while fans might find their own meanings in the visual, MTV News spoke to Inez van Lamsweerde, one half of the directing duo Inez & Vinoodh, about the video. "She'll do anything in this video to make her audience happy and give them inspiration," Inez said on the phone, hours after the premiere, noting that she and Vinoodh were inspired by silent movies and early horror films. "We wanted to bring it back to a very basic element."

Wonder What You'd Look Like In Gaga's "Applause" Makeup? We Found Out...

She added, "There were all these kinds of, let's say, tricks in there, but then the big idea was really to have her symbolize this moment of her hip breaking. That's why she's sort of holding up her right leg as a trophy and this idea that no matter what it takes, she'll get back onstage."

Inez broke down the video's key scenes for MTV News.

The Clam Bikini
She explained that "we were extremely inspired by Botticelli's painting," for that look where Gaga appears in a clam shell bikini, her curls cascading around her shoulders. She added ...

"X Factor" underdogs Fifth Harmony may have shocked viewers when they made it into the finale, but since then, have certainly proved the doubters wrong.

Since signing with mentor Simon Cowell's Syco label, the girl group — composed of Dinah-Jane Hansen, Lauren Jauregui, Normani Hamilton, Camila Cabello and Ally Brooke — saw their lead single, peak at #1 on the U.S. iTunes charts.

During their time on the "X Factor," they covered songs from all artists, including Demi Lovato and Ellie Goulding, which is why MTV News decided to enjoy an afternoon of karaoke in New York City. Watch the video to see the girls in action!

The bubbly fivesome said their go-to karaoke songs include Destiny's Child's "Say My Name" and JoJo's "Too Little Too Late," but after combing through thousands of songs, they decided on Britney Spears' iconic "Oops!...I Did It Again."

Yet, before the quintet showed off their vocal skills, they sat down to discuss their new uptempo pop single, "Me and My Girls," which they co-wrote.

"What's so cool about that song is girl party songs are all about going out and meeting boys," Cabello said. "We are like, 'No, we are going to stay in our pajamas, we are gonna eat some pizza.' "

Fifth Harmony, who admitted to being a little nervous for their upcoming album, have enlisted some of music's top producers, including Julian Bunetta who has worked with One Direction, to help put together a debut.

"It's a variation, we talk about different things and different sounds," Lauren said of the album. "But we get ...

Lady Gaga writhes on a bed, emerges from a top hat and, yes, even wears a tail in her eye-popping . It premiered on Monday (August 19), the same day she confirmed she'll be opening the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards this Sunday, August 25.

Directed by fashion photographers, Inez & Vinoodh, the video is full of surreal, trippy imagery that re-imagines Lady Gaga in a clamshell bikini, doing her best Venus impression, and perhaps, most memorably, at one point plants her head on a swan's body. And while that may serve as the most unexpected set-up, her Little Monsters can't get enough of that clamshell bikini.

John told MTV News, "When she had the seashells on and she was thrashing around on the ground, it was so raw and real. I loved it."

"Probably the seashell look [was my favorite]," Reed said of the video. "It was revealing and baring everything."

Check out the most GIF-worthy 'Applause' moments!

However, Rachel, who traveled all the way from Ireland to be in NYC for the video premiere, couldn't get that swan scene out of her head. "There was this bit and she was like lying on a bed and she turned into a goose, it was all actually absolutely incredible," she noted of that bird transformation. "She was teasing it so much on Twitter and then when I saw it, it was so good."

Jimmy shared that he felt the scenes where she's in her clown makeup really spoke to him because he felt it symbolized her pain she must have felt while ...

The countdown is on until Lady Gaga opens the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. And her Little Monsters know that when Gaga takes the stage Sunday to perform her ARTPOP single, "Applause," anything is possible.

"It's always a surprise. You never know what you're gonna get from Lady Gaga," John told MTV News in Times Square on Monday (August 19). Little Monsters gathered there to check out the premiere of Gaga's eye-popping when it was confirmed she'd be kicking off Sunday's festivities. "I'm sure I'm going to love it and I'm going to watch it over and over again."

Sam added, "I have no idea. I'm so excited. I can't wait to see what it's going to be like. I think it's going to be the best performance."

Fans are hoping she will bring to life some of the very artistic (and GIF-worthy) looks from her brand-new video for "Applause," be it a clamshell bikini, swan or tail.

"I think she is just going to have on clams," Moses predicted. "I think she is just going to have a silk skirt on and some 20-inch heels."

Wonder What You'd Look Like In Gaga's "Applause" Makeup? We Found Out...

"I think, knowing Gaga, she's going to try to incorporate something from the 'Applause' video," Jimmy said. "I know that all the different looks have a meaning that will be in V magazine and all those different looks mean she's not just one icon, she's every icon."

Between bleeding onstage in 2009, wearing meat the following year and then ...

Lee Thompson Young, who starred in the Disney Channel series "The Famous Jett Jackson," was found dead in his L.A. home on Monday, according to TMZ. He was 29 years old.

The actor was currently starring in the TNT series "Rizzoli & Isles," and when he didn't show up for work, staffers called his landlord to check on him. The landlord reportedly found Young dead, with a gunshot wound believed to be self-inflicted.

No official cause of death has been released.

Young made his acting debut in 1998 with the Disney Channel series "The Famous Jett Jackson," about a high-profile teen action star, who just wants to live a normal life in his North Carolina hometown. The series ran for three seasons (including a TV movie), and memorably featured Beyoncé in one of her first acting roles with her girl group Destiny's Child. Britney Spears and Eartha Kitt also made cameo appearances.

Young went on to act in a number of TV series, including "Scrubs," "FlashForward," "Smallville," "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" and his current series, "Rizzoli & Isles," in which he played Detective Barry Frost alongside Angie Harmon's Jane Rizzoli.

He also had a handful of film credits on his resumé, most notably starring as Chris Comer in the 2004 film "Friday Night Lights," based on the novel by Buzz Bissinger.

Young was born on February 1, 1984 in Columbia, South Carolina, and attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts, graduating with honors.

Moby, Selena Gomez and The Weeknd — what do all of these musicians have in common? They all appear to be hardcore fans of up-and-coming New Zealand musician, Lorde. The Weeknd is the latest to join the singer's "love club," releasing a cover of her number-one single "Royals" ahead of his Kiss Land album drop in September.

When MTV News asked which artists Lorde aspired to be like a few weeks ago, the singer told us, "The Weeknd is really powerful in how they do things and I really like The Weeknd's music," naming Abel Tesfaye as one of her more modern influences.

Tesfaye, apparently, feels the same way, as the artist better known as The Weeknd dropped a cover of Lorde's most popular single this weekend via SoundCloud. Tesfaye gave the track his dark polish, adding a layer of shadow to the anti-consumerism anthem as well as his signature soaring vocals to the refrain.

Tesfaye seems an apt person to cover Lorde, as both entered the music world shrouded in mystery — The Weeknd back in 2010 when he started uploading tracks to the Web anonymously before releasing his debut mixtape, House of Ballons, in 2011, and Lorde, whose music started growing in popularity even when there were no known photos of the singer.

Lorde's debut album, Pure Heroine, drops on September 30, just a few weeks after The Weeknd's major label debut, Kiss Land, which comes out September 10.

Lorde's Royal Decree: 'Pop Music Doesn't Have To Be Stupid.'

Tesfaye also recently dropped a ...