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50 Cent Talks About The ‘Fear Factor’ That Made Him Leave Interscope

In recent years, 50 Cent has voiced his frustration with Interscope on multiple occasions, but it may have been what he viewed as their inextricable link with Beats By Dr. Dre headphones that factored into his decision to leave the label.

In February, 50 announced that he was leaving the label, which had been his home since the release of his 2003 debut album,Get Rich or Die Tryin'.

Instead, his June 3 album, Animal Ambition, is due out on Caroline, an independent arm of Capitol — which also happens to be under the same parent umbrella (Universal Music Group) as Interscope.

50 sat down with MTV News on March 17 at Eminem's Shade 45 radio station, the same night he taped a SIRIUS XM Town Hall special with fans which will air on the station on March 31. Fif opened up about his issues with music executive Steve Stoute and the current state of his G-Unit rap group. Then, of course, there was his split from Interscope.

"Not that there wasn't a whole lot of support, but just an actual fear factor created from the aura of respect that Jimmy[Iovine] has within the Interscope system," Fif began to explain. "When you see Interscope turn into Beats Records, where everyone that you see is actually marketing Beats headphones — you don't even see a music video without Beats headphones in it."

The push to market Beats headphones may have been particularly off-putting for 50, who not only doesn't have any stake in Beats, but actually owns a competing outfit. In ...

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The Black Keys Burning Up With New Single ‘Fever’ — Hear It Now

The Black Keys had a little help announcing their new album, Turn Blue, relying on Mike Tyson and, uh, some creepy hypnotist guy to spread the news.

But when it came time to premiere the first single off that album, they decided to let the song speak for itself.

On Monday (March 24), the Keys unveiled "Fever," a track that takes their tried-and-true formula — Dan Auerbach's fuzzed-out guitars and hangdog howls, Patrick Carney's heavy-handed work behind the drumkit — and punches it up with a psychedelic groove, adding keening organs, bells and a suite of studio effects to the mix.

In essence, "Fever" strikes a balance between the hard-charging riffs of 2011's El Camino and the headier spaces explored on 2010's Brothers and some of frequent collaborator Danger Mouse (who co-produced Turn Blue with Auerbach and Carney) recent work, most notably Broken Bells. And while purists may decry the duo's turn away from their raucous, blues-indebted roots, well, there's still hope yet.

An accompanying press release notes that Turn Blue was produced in a trio of studios (including Sunset Sound in Hollywood and Auerbach's own Easy Eye Sound in Nashville) and hints that, while the Keys are definitely headed in different directions on their new album, they haven't forgotten the past, either.

"We are always trying to push ourselves when we make a record, not repeat our previous work but not abandon it either," Carney says in a statement. "On this record, we let the songs breathe and explored moods, textures and sounds. We're excited for the world to hear Turn ...

Mar 24, 2014 | No Comments on The Black Keys Burning Up With New Single ‘Fever’ — Hear It Now
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Jay Z Teaches Drake A Lesson On Jay Electronica’s ‘We Made It’: What We Learned

Jay Electronica doesn't drop music very often, but when he does, the New Orleans MC packs more than hot rhymes into his tracks: He also teaches a lesson or two. Take his recent pairing alongside Roc Nation boss Jay Z on their "We Made It" freestyle. Here's what we learned:

1. Hov Didn't Appreciate Drake's Rolling Stone Interview
Remember when Drake criticized Jay Z for his art-inspired raps in Rolling Stone? Yeah, Hov didn't forget either, and he throws a line to the OVO spitter. "Sorry Mr. Drizzy for so much art talk/ Silly me rappin' 'bout sh-- that I bought," Jigga raps.

2. He Also Reminds Drizzy That He's On Another Level
When Jay Z sold Roc-A-Fella to Def Jam, the business-savvy MC was able to retain ownership of all of his master recordings. It's a boast that most artists can't make, including Drake. On Drizzy's version of "We Made It," he rapped about visiting Universal Records just to make sure they weren't missing any payments; Jay, however, doesn't have those problems. "I own my masters, you know I ain't missing no royalty statements," he raps, using Drake's original rhyme style.

3. Jay Elec Is The Rap Game's Farrakhan
With his raps, Jay Elec has often referenced Five-Percent Nation and Nation of Islam teachings, so when he declares himself the "Farrakhan of rap," the boast doesn't sound too far-fetched. The New Orleans rapper not only compares himself to the Nation of Islam leader, he also says he's the son of NOI founder Wallace Fard Muhammad.

4. Jay Z's Pronunciation Of ...

Mar 24, 2014 | No Comments on Jay Z Teaches Drake A Lesson On Jay Electronica’s ‘We Made It’: What We Learned
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Lady Gaga’s ‘G.U.Y.’ Video: The 22 Most Gaga Moments

Lady Gaga doesn't do subtle. We can say with almost 100 percent certainty that there will never be a day when she releases an unplugged video where she's sitting in a white-walled room, with no makeup and just jeans and a boyfriend t-shirt on, strumming a beat-up acoustic guitar under fluorescent lights.

It's just not her thing. What is her thing are the kind of epic, over-the-top, million-dollar blow-out music videos that Michael Jackson used to make. (Bonus: an MJ impersonator makes a cameo!) And that's exactly what she unveiled Saturday night with the a nearly 12-minute epic that is not only the longest of her music videos, but also kind of a Gaga greatest hits montage.

From the winking, fabulous cameos to the luxurious setting (the famously opulent Hearst Castle), Gaultier outfits, obligatory nude shots, strident cultural commentary and well, so much more. Here are our picks for the 22 most Gaga moments of "G.U.Y."

1. Why is it raining money and why are these businessmen fighting over it?

2. If it's Gaga, you know she's going to be naked ... with an arrow in her back, no less.

3. And, now she's topless, crawling from a smoldering money pit dressed as a kind of California-condor-meets-Icarus.

4. Gaga pulls an arrow from her chest ... and sings to it.

5. She collapses in front of the gilded Hearst Castle and two beefcakes in designer garbage bags scoop her limp body up.

6. And now she's like Jesus.

7. Why is that woman wearing ...

Mar 24, 2014 | No Comments on Lady Gaga’s ‘G.U.Y.’ Video: The 22 Most Gaga Moments
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‘Avengers’ Set Photos Offer First Look At Scarlet Witch And Quicksilver

Listen, I know you're probably super excited for "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" after that, but there's something else in the Marvel Universe, across the Atlantic, that demands your attention.

First unit production on "Avengers: Age of Ultron" began on March 22, and already things are looks big, explosive and scarlet.

Mild spoilers below

The first snapshots from the set show northwestern Italy doubling for Eastern Europe and a chaotic scene with at least two recognizable characters from the pages of Marvel comics suiting up. Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) run out of a building with a crowd others, away from an unseen threat.

Olsen's Scarlet Witch is one of the two newest additions to the team, along with her twin brother, Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). The characters made their debut just last week on the TV special, "Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe," in the form of concept art.

Scarlet Witch's costume matched the looks from the special pretty closely. Olsen sports high black books and a red jacket— much more practical than the unitard comic fans are used to see her in.

As the only returning Avenger on set today in Italy, Renner's Hawkeye looks more or less the same than when we last saw him shooting up Chitauri in New York City. According to early talk about the story in "Age of Ultron," Hawkeye is expect to have a much bigger role this time around and — hopefully — not get brainwashed immediately.

"Avengers: Age of Ultron" opens ...

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‘Spider-Verse’ Event Teams Up Every Spider-Man – Ever

Are you ready to see a team-up featuring every Spider-Man, ever? Marvel Comics sure hopes you are, because starting in November they'll be launching the epic event "Spider-Verse," teaming up every incarnation of Spider-Man in comic book history to fight an evil being who is killing anyone with a spider logo on their chest.

The event kicks off in November, in "Amazing Spider-Man #9," by writer Dan Slott and artist Olivier Coipel. That said, fans will get the "first hints" of "Spider-Verse" in the April-launching "Amazing Spider-Man #1."

"The scope of this event is so big, the word 'epic' just doesn't do it justice," Nick Lowe, editor of the "Spider-Man" books said via press release. "The story is just huge and heartbreaking and has necessitated spreadsheets to organize all the Spider-Men. Luckily we have a writer who has proven time and time again he can thread impossible story-needles [Slott] and the most versatile character artist in the business [Coipel]."

To give a sense of how huge the event is, Marvel released a graphic by artist Gabriele Dell'Otto featuring a large chunk of the main cast: Spider-Man of course; but also all of his different incarnations over the years; and several incarnations of Spider-Woman and Spider-Girl thrown in for good measure.

In case you can't figure out exactly who everyone is, don't worry we annotated the graphic for you; though even with our vast Spider-Man knowledge, there's still a few more gaps to fill in. Help us out, readers, and let us ...

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Do 5 Seconds Of Summer Really Wear American Apparel Underwear?

With its catchy lyrics and can't-get-out-of-your-head chorus, it's no surprise that I've been blasting 5 Seconds of Summer's single on repeat for the past few weeks.

The song also has me thinking, how does one come up with a line like, "She looks so perfect standing there in my American Apparel underwear?" Well, when I got on the phone with half the Australian pop-punk group, Michael Clifford and Ashton Irwin, who are releasing their debut EP in the U.S. on April 1, I just had to find out.

"We wrote [the song] in L.A. with our friend Jake Sinclair, and he's worked with some of our favorite bands, like Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco," Ashton said. "So it was amazing to work with him. He had this idea of a song 'she looks so perfect standing there in my American Apparel underwear,' and he's like, 'Bear with me — it's kind of weird.' And we are like, 'We love weird.' "

It looks like being weird has paid off. The video for the song has been viewed more than 7 million times on YouTube since its release three weeks ago, which may or may not be due to the fact that everyone in the clip (excluding the bandmembers) gets naked.

"We always wanted nudity in our video," Ashton said. "So we sort of were like, how do we get this video treated properly? The underwear line was an obvious thing, and the director, Frank Borin, came to us with the idea that the song puts people into a ...

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MTV’s Musical March Madness Moves To Round Two: Vote Now!

Round two of MTV's Musical March Madness tips off Monday (March 24), and after one week, the 2014 tournament is already proving to be one for the ages.

We started with 64 bands, and now the field has been whittled down to 32 ... as the quest for total supremacy — and one very toned trophy — continues. Voting in all second-round matchups is now underway, and polls will remain open until Monday, March 31 at noon ET.

Vote Now In All #MMM Second-Round Matchups!

Much like the actual NCAA tournament (farewell, Duke), #MMM has already seen plenty of upsets, as two #1 seeds were sent packing, and no shortage of nail-biting, down-to-the-wire battles ... and if we've learned anything from the first round, it's that every vote counts; so, if you want your favorites to survive to the Sweet 16, well, hit the polls early and often!

But before you do, let's recap the week that was ... and look ahead at the second-round matchups in #MMM 2014!

Midwest Region

Top-seeded Fall Out Boy weren't one of the early favorites shown the door, as they crushed #16 St. Vincent to advance. They'll take on Jack Antonoff's Bleachers in round two, as the newly-formed sideproject proved they're no flash in the pan, outlasting #9 Grouplove in a back-and-forth opening-round battle.

#4 Blink-182 and #5 the Fray will face off in the other second-half matchup in the Midwest's top half, as both took down lower-seeded opponents (#13 Sleeping With Sirens and #12 Taking Back ...

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