Who out there is currently packing for Hangout Fest? Show of hands? Well, while you’re trying to cram one.more. pair of fancy shorts into your duffle, might we suggest a few additions to your luggage sitch?

Back in January — when the sun was a distant memory — we asked a cadre of Hangout performers what they planned to bring to the beach. The results ranged from the practical (“Don’t dress too much, because it’s going to be hot,” according to Zedd) to the “Okkkk, suuuuure” (“I’ve never been to a beach party before,” Portugal. The Man singer John Gourley said. “We have gravel-pit parties in Alaska”).

This time around, we dug deep down into our brains — before they get fried by sunshine and awesomeness — to bring you the 11 essentials you must have at Hangout 2014.

Better factor in another carry-on.

Brenna Ehrlich

Brenna Ehrlich is a reporter for MTV News as well as the senior writer/editor for the O Music Awards. In the past, she served as associate editor at Mashable, penned a netiquette column for CNN and co-authored the blog and book "Stuff Hipsters Hate." She likes trying not to die in moshpits and listening to songs on repeat. Follow her on Twitter @BrennaEhrlich ...

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Lil Wayne just released his Tha Carter V single, “Believe Me,” featuring Drake, earlier this month, but Tunechi has already got us excited for his other new music.

During the latest episode of his weekly web series “Weezy Wednesdays,” the rapper previews a brand new song: “D’usse.” The track, produced by DJ Nasty, takes its name from the Jay Z-endorsed Cognac, which Wayne pours himself a glass of in the video.

“This motherf–kin’ D’usse got me sweatin’ and shi–. Word to God,” he says over the beginning of the airy, symphonic beat. “Hov, f–k wit’ ya boy.”

The 16-second clip leaves us with plenty of questions, though.

Will the track be featured on Tha Carter V, due out later this year?

Seems like a safe bet, but we don’t know for sure.

Will it feature Jay?

The two have worked together before, but, more recently than that, they’ve exchanged jabs on wax. While their lyrical warfare hasn’t been ignited of late, Hov and Drake continue to send shots in each other’s direction.

When will we get the final version?

This one’s hard to predict. With “Believe Me” still impacting, the full version of “D’usse” may not drop for a bit. This will have to suffice until then.

Adam Fleischer

Usually pouring water on my head. Catch me @adamfleischer

As if the insane “Arrow” season finale wasn’t enough, it also gave us our first trailer for “The Flash,” the superhero spin-off that will hit The CW this Fall. And now we’re so excited, we’re running around in circles almost as fast as the scarlet speedster himself.

What’s best about the brief look is that it pretty clearly underlines the differences between Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and Barry Allen (Grant Gustin). The two shows will clearly occupy the same world, but their tones — and leading men — couldn’t be more different.

“The Flash,” based on the classic, super-fast DC Comic book character previously came to TV for one season in 1990, starring John Wesley Shipp as Barry Allen, the fastest man alive. Though the 2014 take is unconnected to the original, Shipp will guest star in some unknown capacity.

Instead, the new series spins off from Grant Gustin’s appearance on two episodes of “Arrow,” following his adventures as he learns to use his powers and solves crimes as a forensic scientist for the Central City Police Department.

The show also stars Jesse L. Martin, Danielle Panabaker, Candice Patton, Carlos Valdes and Tom Cavanagh. It’s produced by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and Geoff Johns.

What did you think of “The Flash” trailer? Favorite moments? Let us know in the comments below!

Alex Zalben

All of the recent headlines about Jay Z and Beyoncé may have momentarily overhsadowed their music, but let’s not forget that each half of the power couple released a well-received, high-selling album, with a unique rollout in 2013. It’s for work on those projects — Magna Carta Holy Grail and Beyoncé, respectively — that Hov and Bey are being ackowledged at the 2014 BET Awards.

Jay, Bey and Drake — who scored another chart-topper with his third album, Nothing Was The Same — lead the way with five each. Just behind them, with four each, are Pharrell and August Alsina.

On the acting side, Gabrielle Union, Kerry Washington, Lupita Nyong’o, Idris Elba and Michael B. Jordan all earned nominations. Head over to BET for the full list of nominees.

The annual show goes down on June 29, in Los Angeles.

Best Female R&B/Pop Artist
Beyoncé
Janelle Monáe
Jhené Aiko
K. Michelle
Rihanna
Tamar Braxton

Best Male R&B/Pop Artist
August Alsina
Chris Brown
John Legend
Justin Timberlake
Pharrell Williams

Best Group
A$AP Mob
Daft Punk
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
TGT
Young Money

Best Collaboration
August Alsina f/ Trinidad Jame$ – “I Luv This”
Beyoncé f/ Jay Z – “Drunk In Love”
Drake f/ Majid Jordan – “Hold On (We’re Going Home)”
Jay Z f/ Justin Timberlake – “Holy Grail”
Robin Thicke f/ T.I. & Pharrell Williams – “Blurred Lines”
YG f/ Jeezy & Rich Homie Quan – “My Hitta”

Best Male Hip Hop Artist
Drake
Future
J. Cole
Jay Z
Kendrick Lamar

Best Female Hip Hop Artist
Angel Haze
Charli Baltimore
Eve
Iggy Azalea
Nicki Minaj

Video of the Year
Beyoncé – “Partition”
Beyoncé f/ JAY Z – “Drunk In Love”
Chris Brown – “Fine China”
Drake – “Worst Behavior”
Pharrell ...

“Divergent” and “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” cleaned up at the box office, and “The Fault In Our Stars” is already getting us lathered up into a foam of excitement and tears.

Yup, YA is definitely having a moment — or, rather, 90 minutes, since it’s been a de facto breeding ground for blockbuster films these past few years.

Still, there are a lot of kids out there that aren’t seeing themselves splashed across the silver screen — or on the pages that inspired those films.

The lack of diversity in media isn’t a new topic by any means, but, recently, YA authors and industry folk alike have been calling for more variation when it comes to books for teens and their ensuing films.

Most recently, that call was heard via a campaign called “We Need Diverse Books,” which launched after Book Expo America failed to include any writers of color — or any women — on a YA panel.

MTV News spoke with a cadre of authors who support the ethos of that campaign, asking them which diverse books they want to see turned into movies right now — so that all kids, no matter their race or sexual orientation, will be able to see themselves in the flickering pitch black.

1). “The Living,” by Matt de la Pena

“Cruise ship-meets-every natural disaster you can think of. It already reads like a movie! It’s a past-paced page-turner that leaves you breathless until the ...

The deluxe version of Michael Jackson’s new album, XSCAPE, has just one feature: Justin Timberlake on “Love Never Felt So Good (Remix).”

Sure, JT embodies some of the King of Pop’s qualities, but how did he end up on the album?

“L.A. [Reid] was torn; I wasn’t as torn,” Timbaland, who serves as the album’s executive producer, told MTV News about the singer’s inclusion. “I’m like, The kids gonna flock to this one. People don’t know Off The Wall like they know ‘SexyBack.’ So, this got more feel like if it was ‘SexyBack,’ but respect to Michael Jackson, this is how we gonna do it.”

As for why Timberlake is featured on the “Love Never Felt So Good (Remix),” as opposed to another track — that was his choosing.

“He picked the song, and that song stuck out to him,” Timbo explained. “The other songs, he was like, That’s Michael, man; you can’t get on nothing with Michael. It’s Michael.”

On the song, for which a video dropped on Wednesday morning (May 14), Jackson has the opening verse, and JT follows with his after that.

“He inserted himself just enough in ‘Love Never Felt So Good,’ and just added to what Michael was doing,” he said. “He didn’t really do too much. When he came in, it made him look special, but it didn’t make him look overwhelming. It was just enough.”

The single recently hit No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, and will likely continue to grow from there. It’s an outcome ...

With reporting by Christina Garibaldi

We’ve already talked to the producers of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” about the game-changing season finale, and speculated about what might happen in season two. But why settle for mere speculation when you can go to the man himself for answers?

So that’s exactly what we did, tracking down Clark Gregg, who plays Agent Phil Coulson on the show at the ABC Upfront. From here on out, major spoilers for the season finale, so be warned.

As we close out the season, Coulson has turned out to be fine despite his resurrection-inducing alien blood infusion, gotten the keys to S.H.I.E.L.D. from none other than Nick Fury himself and even made his way to a new secret home base.

But all is not well in the land of Coulson. The Agent sleepwalks to a storage level of his base and starts scratching symbols all over the wall. They’re symbols we’ve seen before in the show, similarly jotted out in an unconscious state by others who have received this alien blood. So what can Gregg tell us about drawing these symbols?

“He does? But that was Coulson when he was unconscious, so I don’t really know about that,” Gregg joked, before relenting for some more serious info. “I hear, Agent Coulson, in another alternate state is inscribing alien hieroglyphics, probably because of the alien blood that now pumps through his veins. The ramifications of that… They can’t be good.”

After Gregg tried to (hilariously) speak the symbols out loud, he did reverse his ...

Each week, MTV News is breaking down the big events in “Batman Eternal.” For issue six, which hits comic book stands today (May 13), we’re talking to writer Ray Fawkes about the supernaturally inclined plot.

What’s up with Deacon Blackfire? Who is the Joker’s Daughter really summoning? And Batman really believes in ghosts? Read on for that and more info. Oh, and spoilers on, of course:

MTV News: This issue is a decidedly different bent for the series. We’ve had nanotech, we’ve had gangsters, but this issue we’re leaning into the supernatural. Generally speaking, how does the supernatural fit into Gotham, and in a greater sense, “Batman Eternal”?

Ray Fawkes: If you go back and read through amazing material of the past 75 years, Batman has got at least one foot in the supernatural world. Every once in a while a villain crops up who turns out to be a vampire, or a werewolf, or a ghost. It’s got a lot to do the fact that Batman, mythologically, lives in darkness.

The look of Batman, and the mythology of Batman have to do with fear. It’s inevitable that the books would occasionally touch on traditional horror stories, or less traditional ones.

We were first talking about “Eternal,” and Scott [Snyder] and James [Tynion IV] mentioned they wanted to cover all of the Batman bases, and all of the Gotham bases we knew there had to be a supernatural element involved.

Of course, I was at the end of the table waving my arms frantically because I’m way ...

YA fans: The moment you’ve been waiting for is finally here. Kylie and Kendall Jenner’s upcoming debut book, “Rebels: City of Indra: The Story of Lex and Livia,” is available for pre-order.

The book, which is primed to drop on June 3, was penned by the two sisters along with writer Maya Sloan, who recently co-wrote “Rich Kids of Instagram: A Novel.”

According to Amazon, the book is “a thrilling dystopian story about two super-powered girls who embark on a journey together.”

“In a world of the far future, the great city of Indra has two faces: a beautiful paradise floating high in the sky, and a nightmare world of poverty carved into tunnels beneath the surface of the earth,” the description continues. “Kendall and Kylie Jenner, the youngest sisters in the Kardashian dynasty, have written a gripping tale of air, fire, and a bond of blood.”

Gripping.

Sidenote, the cover of the Jenners’ jam looks pretty similar to the art gracing Tahereh Mafi‘s amazing “Shatter Me” series. Maybe pick those tomes up to sate you in the meantime?

Brenna Ehrlich

Brenna Ehrlich is a reporter for MTV News as well as the senior writer/editor for the O Music Awards. In the past, she served as associate editor at Mashable, penned a netiquette column for CNN and co-authored the blog and book "Stuff Hipsters Hate." She likes trying not to die in moshpits and listening to songs ...

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“I know you missed this/ It’s still Dipset, you dipsh–s,” Juelz Santana raps on the chorus of “Dipsh–s.”

The video for the track proves that he’s not lying, either. We did miss it, and it is still Dipset. The whole record feels like a bit of a trip down memory lane — without being dated in the least.

The song is part of Cam’ron and A-Trak’s upcoming Federal Reserve EP. In addition to Cam and A-Trak, the video features Dips members Jim Jones, Juelz and Freekey Zekey, as well as Dame Dash (who provides some classic sh– talk at the end) and Just Blaze (who co-produced the song).

The visuals, directed by Ricky Saiz, are a showcase of Harlem, complete with shots of kids playing basketball, the Dips kicking it in the project stairwell, a 128th Street and Lenox Avenue street sign, and plenty more. Also, Killa rocks fur.

The EP should drop later this year.

Adam Fleischer

Usually pouring water on my head. Catch me @adamfleischer