November 24, 2024

About the author  ⁄ MTV News

What’s A Wiz Khalifa Block Party Like? Watch ‘We Dem Boyz’

Wiz Khalifa has always come off as a loving, jovial kinda guy, so it should be no surprise that he'd have hundreds of friends to join him at a block party. And that's exactly what goes down in the visuals for "We Dem Boyz," the Pittsburgh native's latest single.

"[It'll have] definitely a lot of energy, because I wanna touch the people," Wiz told MTV News about the video in February, when he was getting ready to shoot it. "Everybody who knows me, know I keep it simple. So [there will be] a lot of real people in the video."

He certainly kept good on that promise. Filmed in Atlanta, the video opens with Wiz lighting up in a bedroom before making his way through the house and onto the porch. There, some dozen or so others are posted, playing cards and joking around. Among them are Big K.R.I.T., Rich Homie Quan and Chevy Woods — the first of a number of celebrities to appear.

From there, the Rostrum Records rapper hits the block, passing plenty of others along the way who are wearing the same "Dem Boyz" white tee that he is. Soon, Ty Dolla $ign rolls up in a car and creeps down the block as he and the Taylor Gang general embrace. Next, it's off to a nearby yard, where Wiz is joined by B.o.B for a BBQ.

The video, directed by Ethan Lader, was done in a single shot. It was an attempt to capture the feeling of the single.

"I love the energy of that song, it's just ...

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EXCLUSIVE: ‘The Break-Up Artist’ Turns Heartache Into Cash

Your best friend has a new boyfriend and she's totally ignoring you: What do you do? Talk about it rationally over some ice cream seasoned with tears? I think not. You call the break-up artist.

"The Break-Up Artist," Philip Siegel's upcoming debut young adult novel, tells the tale of Becca Williamson, a teen who breaks up couples for money.

Jaded by her sister's status as jilted bride — and a former best pal who traded friendship for a boyfriend and popularity — Williamson dons a mask, anonymously wrecking havoc on the social lives of hapless classmates.

That is, of course, until she's asked to break up said former best friend and her popular beau, her current best friend gets an intriguing new boyfriend, and her status as break-up artist threatens to be outed.

"The Break-Up Artist" drops April 29, but MTV News has an exclusive sneak peek at chapter one nowabouts. Check out all the action below:

Calista McTiernan looks away from the screen. Tears form in her eyes. The levee's about to break. I wish I could reach through my computer monitor and give her a hug. I hear these stories too often.

"Ever since they started dating, Bari's become a totally different person. Derek's favorite band is U2, and now mag­ically it's hers, too. Derek is into politics, and now Bari is watching CNN religiously. I laughed it off because she acted this way with her last boyfriend. But then..." Calista shakes her head.

"But then what?" I ask in my best British accent, looking directly into my webcam.

"Then ...

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Mac Miller On Success: ‘I Did It All Without A Drake Feature’

Mac Miller has been one of hip-hop's finest examples of paving a do-it-yourself path over the last few years. It's not simply that he's built his sizeable following and released albums absent of the backing of a major label, though.

"I did it all without a Drake feature," the Pittsburgh native raps on a new song, which he debuted live in concert in his hometown on Friday.

The line seems more like a self-affirmation than a slight at Drizzy. In fact, Miller has sung the Young Money rapper's praises multiple times this year.

"If you look at a Drake, you can say he's kind of been knocking down this door," Mac told MTV News in January. "Like, 'I wanna be accepted on a level as a Jay Z and a Kanye.' And he's probably been feeling that way for a long time, but it just happens when it's supposed to happen. Now, finally, you see Drake and Kanye, putting him up where he's supposed to be."

Also in January, the 22-year-old explained his philosophy for this year. "This is the name of the game for 2014: D.A.D.D.: Do As Drake Does," he said during an interview with KYLD 94.9 in San Francisco. "Because Drake got the game on lock. If you wanna watch how anyone releases music and puts out an album, watch Drake."

He'll likely find himself following that advice a number of times in the coming months. Mac also told MTV News that he has plans to drop a handful of projects before the year's out. "I ...

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Oprah Brings Pharrell To ‘Happy’ Tears

Oprah Winfrey sure knows how to bring the emotions out of people, and on Sunday night on "Oprah Prime," the veteran journalist and media mogul brought the oh-so-cool Pharrell Williams to tears.

"Why am I crying on 'Oprah,' " P asked rhetorically, with a smirk fighting its way through his tears.

During the interview, Williams spoke to the Big O about his #1 Billboard single and its slow burn to the top of the charts. "Zero airplay, nothing," P said of the single he released in June as a part of the "Despicable Me 2" soundtrack. "And next thing you know we put the video on November 21st, all of a sudden, boom."

The "boom" that Pharrell referred to was the viral explosion of fan-made "Happy" videos, which came from all across the world. When Oprah showed the multiplatinum producer a compilation of all of those different fan videos, he was moved to tears.

"It's overwhelming because I love what I do and I just appreciate the fact that people have believed in me for so long, that I can make it to this point to feel that," he said through tears as he pointed to Oprah's video screen.

...

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Find Out When Ed Sheeran’s Summer Tour Is Coming To Your City

By the time Ed Sheeran hits your town this summer we'll just assume you've already spent two months deconstructing and memorizing every lyric on his upcoming album. X is due out on June 23, but Sheeran's arena tour won't kick off until August 22 with a date at Seattle's WAMU Theater, so that gives you plenty of time to crawl around inside every nuance of his sensitive acoustic goodies.

How awesome will it be to see Ed perform new tracks
 like "Don't," "One," "Mess" and "The Man" and his smash Pharrell-produced first single,

After warming up the stage for bestie Taylor Swift last year, the upcoming tour will be Sheeran's first-ever North American headlining arena swing.

With more dates to be announced soon, the initial string of 15 shows includes a two-night stand in Las Vegas and gigs in Cleveland, Boston, Atlanta and Chicago.

Get ready to fall in love all over again at one of these shows:

»8/22 - Seattle, WA @ Wamu Theater
»8/23 - Vancouver, BC @ Ambleside Live
»8/29 - Las Vegas, NV @ The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan
»8/30 - Las Vegas, NV @ The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan
»8/31 - Glendale, AZ @ Jobing.com Arena
»9/2 - Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
»9/4 - Cleveland, OH @ Wolstein Center
»9/8 - Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
»9/9 - Boston, MA @ Xfinity Center
»9/11 - Charlotte, NC @ Time Warner Cable Arena
»9/12 - Atlanta, GA @ The Arena at Gwinnett Center
»9/13 - Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
»9/15 - Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
»9/16 - Chicago, IL @ Allstate Arena
»9/18 - Toronto, ...

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11 Times We Laughed Our Asses Off At The 2014 MTV Movie Awards

This year's MTV Movie Awards had us busting a gut, from host Conan O'Brien's historic opening montage to a very unexpected game of tonsil hockey that, surprisingly, did not win an award. Here are 11 of the funniest moments from the show.

Record-Breaking Opening Montage

It started off with a bang. We got to see Conan nuzzle Elijah Wood in bed, walk in on Adam Sandler on the toilet, catch Danny McBride strapping dynamite to Ed Helms, smash Jack White's guitar, ask Taylor Swift out on a date and finally solve the mystery of who Banksy is, all in one fantastic montage set to the Kongos' hit "Come With Me Now."

New Award Categories

In an attempt to make this year's Movie Awards the best ever (and keep Grumpy Cat from falling asleep in the front row), Conan introduced the show's newest categories: Six-Second Vine Videos, all starring Matthew McConaughey; Best Product Placement, which went to "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" and the Pepsi machine of Middle Earth; and Best Kiss-Fight, for the impeccably choreographed barn smooch-off between Conan and Will Arnett.

Microphone Malfunction

When "Guardians of the Galaxy" star Chris Pratt walked onstage to remind all the folks at home that they still could vote for their favorite movie midway through the show, no one backstage had given him a microphone. But with a series of hilarious gestures, he got the point across.

The Dick Pic

Any Golden Popcorn winner who ran over his or her allotted time during the acceptance speech really had to face the music — except in this case, the ...

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Go To Hell With The Black Keys On ‘Turn Blue’

Get ready for a particularly blue monday, as The Black Keys just dropped their new single, "Turn Blue," off of their upcoming record by the same name.

On Monday (April 14), the band posted the song to YouTube, complete with the swirling, hypnotic visuals that heralded the impending release of the record.

The Black Keys teased the album in March via a video featuring a hypnotist played by L.A.-based actor/model/musician/entrepreneur Micah Fitzgerald.

A moody, haunted house of a track, the jam kicks off with Dan Auerbach crooning, "In the dead of the night I start to lose control/ But I still carry the weight like I've always done before," before launching into the falsetto-tastic chorus, "I really don't think you know that could be hell below, below/ I really do hope you know that could be hell below."

Co-producer Danger Mouse's influence thrums particularly heavily in this track — even more so than on previous single In fact, the song sounds like it could have easily fit on Portugal. The Man's last record, Evil Friends, also produced by Danger Mouse.

Early tastes of Turn Blue seem to indicate that the band is, in a sense, turning away from more rowdy bangers like "Lonely Boy" off of 2011's El Camino, with Carney saying in a statement, "We are always trying to push ourselves when we make a record, not repeat our previous work but not abandon it either... On this record, we let the songs breathe and explored moods, textures and sounds. We're excited for the world to hear Turn Blue."

The ...

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