February 24, 2025

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Mannie Fresh Won’t Be Part Of New Big Tymers

MIAMILil Wayne piqued the interest of die-hard Cash Money fans last week when he casually mentioned that the YMCMB camp will be working on a new Big Tymers LP with Drake.

But everyone wants to know: Will Mannie Fresh be involved?

"No. Nah. Not at all," Birdman confirmed when he appeared on a special episode of in Miami on Wednesday (May 8).

The original incarnation of the group featured Birdman and former Cash Money producer Mannie Fresh. The duo's first LP, How You Luv That, came back in 1998, and their final album, Big Money Heavyweight, dropped 10 years ago, in 2003. After some internal disputes, Fresh left Cash Money, and the new Big Tymers will consist of Stunna, Lil Wayne and Drake, Birdman said.

Nothing for the project has been recorded yet. Actually, it just started as an idea, but according to Wayne, it is definitely on the way and all parties involved seem pretty excited, including Drake, who wasn't present for the interview.

"You can't even tell him an idea," Wayne said of Drizzy. "I just told him that we were thinking about it, and he just hit me and said, 'We're lookin' for some music today.' "

Wayne has gone on record saying Tha Carter V will be his last album before he retires form rap, but he does promise a number of non-Carter projects in between. We now know there is a Big Tymers album in the works, as well as a sequel to Weezy and Birdman's 2006 LP, Like Father, Like ...

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Ed Sheeran Has An Unheard Taylor Swift Duet ‘Chilling’ On His Phone

Ed Sheeran is already pulling double duty as Taylor Swift's tourmate and duet partner — their will serve as Swift's next single in the UK — but it's looking like things might not stop there.

Because as Sheeran explained to MTV News, he and Swift have actually collaborated two more songs — even recording one of them. So whatever happened to that unheard track? Well, right now, it's residing on Sheeran's phone."

"We did do a lot of stuff, but I don't know whose record it will end up on," Sheeran said. "We did three songs, and recorded two, and one went on her album, which is the next single. But we'll see what happens with the other one, there's no specific plan so far, it's just chilling on my iTunes right now. It's on my phone."

So who knows? Perhaps the song will end up on Sheeran's new album (though we're not sure how it will fit in amongst all the ) Or maybe, he'll just scrap it in favor of another duet with Swift. After all, the two have established quite a bond, both in the studio, on the road, and at a Chinese restaurant near you.

"She's so down to earth, despite being one of the biggest acts of the planet, you don't really see that side of her unless she's on stage," Sheeran said. "When she's on stage, she's an entertainer and a performer, but when she's off stage, she spends half the time tossing cat treats to her cat. It's a very relaxed backstage ...

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Lil Wayne Doesn’t Remember Seizures

MIAMILil Wayne's battle with epilepsy has been puzzling, not just for his fans, but for Weezy himself. According to Tunechi, his sporadic seizures come without any warning.

"No warning, no nothing I don't feel sick. I get headaches real bad. And the headaches? I didn't get no headaches or nothing," Lil Wayne told MTV News correspondent Sway Calloway when he appeared on a special episode of "RapFix Live" on Wednesday (May 8).

Wayne says he has no recollection of the attacks and if it wasn't for his family, friends and doctors, he wouldn't even know the details of his frightful episodes. "I told them the other day, 'Y'all can tell me right now that y'all was lying', like 'You know what? We lyin' ain't nothin,' and I'd have to believe them because I don't know," he said. "I go to sleep and wake up in the hospital. I don't feel anything. I'm 100, I just hope it stops happening."

In March, Wayne landed in the hospital for nearly a week after suffering from three seizures in a row. It wasn't the first time, nor the last. On April 30, the 30-year old lyrical wiz was taken to Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles and then was released the next day. "The thing is, man, the bad news is I'm an epileptic, so I'm prone to seizures," Wayne told Los Angeles' Power 106 DJ Felli Fel during an interview in March. "This isn't my first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh seizure. I've had a bunch of seizures; y'all just ...

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Britney Spears Flaunts Bikini And Confirms Las Vegas Shows

Ground control to Britney Spears: prepare for landing. In a whirlwind of prepping her upcoming album, teaming up for will.i.am's track and finishing up her work on the "X Factor," the pop princess is finally settling down... in Las Vegas.

In her cover story for June's Shape magazine, Brit confirmed her rumored residency in Sin City, slated for this fall. The singer admits it's going to be a lot of hard work.

"The [Vegas] performances won't be simple," she teased. "They'll be a massive party from start to finish. And to pull this off, I have to be in top condition and running at full speed."

Top condition? Although we thought Spears was already killing it in the bod department, she might have to kick up her workout routine.

"I'm doing 90 minutes of yoga twice a week in addition to a lot of cardio — hour-long sessions three times a week with my trainer, Tony Martinez," she said.

The magazine's cover has Britney in a strappy white bikini, with her hair wavy and golden as she bounces her head to the side, flashing a smile. She shows off her performance-ready body, complete with glowing skin and a little ice.

Sharing her secrets, she told the magazine she's cutting back on the cookies, to her sons' dismay, but is also toning up with food-program Nutrisystem. For gym motivation, she listens to Whitney Houston and Bruno Mars.

Spears isn't new to intense Vegas performances — she took over the city in 2011in her Femme Fatale era. Also coming soon, is the singer's eighth album ...

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As I Lay Dying Fans Shocked, Saddened By Tim Lambesis’ Arrest

One day after As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis was arrested after allegedly soliciting an undercover detective to kill his estranged wife, his bandmates have yet to release a statement ... but fans of AILD have begun expressing their shock and disbelief over the incident.

"I hope it's a mistake ... but there is still a trial ahead, if it gets that far," one fan wrote on Lambesis' Facebook page. "Let's not all draw conclusions until there is more to go on. It used to be, people were tried prematurely in the press — now it's all open and closed on Facebook within a couple hours."

"I hope to hell it is some sort of mistake," another fan added. "Everyone needs to spare a thought for Tim's wife (estranged or not) and especially their kids. What happens to them now, if this is true? What happens to the other members of AILD? It's hard to believe he would risk losing all of that. Let's hope we all wake up tomorrow to better news."

On Lambesis' Instagram account — which shows a picture of the singer in Shanghai, with a message "I'll be home in about 15 hours" — fans have begun leaving messages of support: "I believe in you Tim," one message reads. "Innocent until proven guilty ... hope this isn't true Timmy!" another fan wrote.

MTV News' emails to As I Lay Dying's label, Metal Blade, have not been responded to by press time.

Lambesis was arrested without incident on Tuesday in Oceanside, California, according to the ...

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‘The Great Gatsby’ Soundtrack: Jay-Z And Baz Luhrmann Re-Invent The Jazz Age

Last year, when Baz Luhrmann released a trailer for "The Great Gatsby" that featured the strains of Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the purists panicked. It was bad enough, they argued, that he was shooting the thing in 3-D ... now he's scoring it like a summer blockbuster.

Of course, those same critics probably never bothered to consider Luhrmann's previous films, particularly 1996's "Romeo + Juliet" and 2001's "Moulin Rouge!," where he circumvented the constraints of time periods (and common sense) in order to breathe new life into old tales. He did so in many ways — setting "Romeo" in "Verona Beach," basing "Moulin" on Bollywood — but his aspirations were most apparent (and audacious) on those films' soundtracks, gleefully irreverent exercises in reinvention that had very little, if anything, to do with the films themselves. And yet, they both worked splendidly, matching the tone and feel of their respective pictures and actually spawning genuine hits, like the Cardigan's "Lovefool" and the massive "Lady Marmalade," which featured Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya, Pink and Missy Elliott.

On the "Gatsby" soundtrack, Luhrmann aims higher. Working with executive producer Jay-Z, he's assembled yet another lineup of big-name stars — Jay, Beyonce, will.i.am, Fergie, Florence and the Machine, Lana Del Rey, Jack White, etc. — but the point doesn't seem to be scoring hits, or rankling the traditionalists. Rather, he's determined to re-invent the Jazz Age.

"[The idea] didn't come from 'Let's make a great soundtrack, it came from Fitzgerald,'" Luhrmann explained to MTV News. "When he wrote that ...

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Rihanna’s ‘Daring’ Sexuality Gets Salute From ‘Vagina Monologues’ Writer

She's already a world-renowned activist, playwright, performer and feminist — but "The Vagina Monologues" scribe Eve Ensler definitely had time to talk pop when we spoke with her following a very special conversation held for MTV staff as part of its Pioneers series.

On the heels of her latest book, "In the Body of the World: A Memoir," in which she chronicles her recent experiences of working in the Congo and her subsequent diagnosis of uterine cancer, she held back little during the discussion (her candidness is perhaps one of her most noted, beloved traits). She jumped from topics like female empowerment to Rick Ross's recent date-rape controversy (in which she chastised both Ross for making light of such a scarring situation). Despite the words directed at Ross, Ensler showed nothing but love for the personality of one of pop's reigning princesses.

"I'm a huge Rihanna fan," she exclaimed about the singer, whose catalog is rife with tracks on female, sexual empowerment (see: "Cake," "Cockiness"). "I think she has a kind of agency over her sexuality and she's open about her sexuality, she has enormous grace and she's immensely talented. And I find her, I just find her brave; there's something very daring and original and completely herself about her that I completely connect with."

Ensler, whose "The Vagina Monologues" broke boundaries for its outspokenness around the plight of women when it first debuted in 1996, appreciated Rihanna's ownership of her power. But her comments shed no light on the abusive relationship with Chris Brown that the singer is so often defined ...

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Selena Gomez’s ‘Come & Get It’ Wardrobe <i>Had</i> To Be ‘Sensual’

Since Tuesday night's premiere of "Come & Get it" was the first in over a year for Selena Gomez, she wanted to make sure the video was everything she hoped it would be.

The pop star set the tone early on with her performances of the track. The single, inspired by Bollywood and Bhangra beats, is the first off her upcoming fourth album. So for the video, Gomez knew that she wanted not only to come off as more mature but also to have more creative control over this new direction she was presenting to her fans.

Teaming up with Anthony Mandler— the director has collaborated with everyone from Rihanna to Gomez's on-again, off-again boyfriend, Justin Bieber — the two worked hard to come up with a cinematic theme that fit the song. But when it came time to shoot, Selena took over.

"I think he got mad at me," Gomez said of Mandler during our special "MTV First." "They have the [video] time codes, so I was emailing [changes] back and forth with Anthony and my label. ... But it worked. It was such a collaboration and he really did a great job."

One thing Mandler was happy to let Gomez take complete control of was her wardrobe, which ranged from a sleek, black corset dress to what appears to be the chiffon Marco Marco ensemble she sported for her 2013 MTV Movie Awards performance.

"I worked with my stylist that I've had since I was 15, and when Anthony came on board he was really supportive of wanting me to have ...

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2014 MTV VMAs And Movie Awards Get Show Dates!

MTV knows how to throw a raucous party, and like any good host, we're sending out our save-the-date cards nice and early. So mark your 2014 calendars: the MTV Movie Awards will air on Sunday, April 13, while the Video Music Awards will take the stage on Sunday, August 24.

This year saw the Movie Awards pushed up to April to kick off the summer movie season in the way only MTV could (Iron-Mangina, anyone?). In addition to the Rebel Wilson-hosted ceremony, MTV continued its yearly Sneak Peek Week tradition, offering up exclusive first looks at films "This Is the End," "Pain & Gain," "The To Do List," "The Heat" and "The Bling Ring."

MTV's other landmark awards ceremony will experience its own first in 2013: The Video Music Awards will call Brooklyn's Barclays Center home for its 30th anniversary on Sunday, August 25. That's right, after three years in Los Angeles, the Moonman will pack his bags and return to New York. (The last Big Apple-set ceremony took place in 2009 at Radio City Music Hall.)

"From hip-hop to hipsters, Jay- Z to MGMT, Brooklyn musicians have a long history of dominating the 'spotlight' on MTV. Brooklyn is a cultural Mecca — the hippest, coolest place for young people across the country, and has played a crucial role in the careers of some of 2013's biggest bands, like Fun. and the Lumineers," said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz in a statement.

"Now, it is only fitting that the first time Brooklyn will ever host a major awards show, we are ...

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