Lil Wayne in “Nino Brown: The Road to Rikers, Part 1″

Photo: Courtesy of Nino Brown

Nino Brown: The Road to Rikers, Part 1

“Three days, y’all — let’s party!” Lil Wayne said on Saturday (February 27). Now that his dental surgery is done, Weezy is expected to begin serving his year in jail on weapons charges Tuesday, but he’s making sure he’s seen and heard before his departure. Of late, Weezy has taken to Twitter (much more on than in a minute) and Ustream to communicate with fans. On Saturday evening, Weezy and his favorite videographer, DJ Scoob Doo, sent MTV News a clip we’re going to call “Nino Brown: The Road to Rikers, Part 1″ (as in Rikers Island, the New York jail that Wayne’s heading to).

In the clip, Wayne promises to grant fans a look at what his life is like as he prepares to go to jail.

Shot Saturday afternoon in the guest house of his Miami home, Wayne had the NCAA game of Tennessee vs. Kentucky playing in the background on his big-screen TV.

“This is for my real fans,” Wayne said. “People who wanna know what I be doin’. I’mma let y’all in.”

From there, Wayne, who recently tweeted that he was giving up Twitter (although he’s tweeted since then), urged his fans to follow him at his page, “@liltunechi.”

“I just opened that up,” Weezy said. “I got almost 200,000 followers. I need more followers. I saw Drake had like 400,000 followers. I need more followers than Drake.”

Wayne then gave background on his nickname.

“My nickname is Lil Tune — my grandmother named me that,” he explained. “She’s passed. My grandmother, her name was Mercedes Carter. She named me Lil Tune. We just threw the ‘Chi’ on there. Like Gucci, I say ‘Tunechi!’ ”

The clip ends with Weezy shouting out all his children, their mothers and his own mom.

Wayne will be shooting footage right up until he goes to court on Tuesday — check back with MTV News for more!

Wayne and Scoob Doo recently released the DVD “The Nino Brown Story, Part 2.” It can be found on djscoobdoo.com.

Related Artists

• Lil Wayne

Jennifer Lopez spoofs “We are the World” on SNL on Febuary 27

Photo: NBC

Jennifer Lopez might be between record labels, but her television appearances have been fast and frequent.

After filming an episode of CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother” last month, playing a sexy self-help guru who seduces Neil Patrick Harris’ character, Lopez hit “Saturday Night Live” for the first time in almost a decade.

“The first time I was on this show was 10 years ago. … Back then I was single and traveling around with a big entourage,” Lopez said, opening the show in a form-fitting black leather dress. “But people grow up; now I’m married with two beautiful children.”

The singer/actress went on to have an awkward conversation with comedian and “SNL” cast member Kenan Thompson, who was posing as a discarded member of her 1990s entourage, flanked by two drag queens wearing her infamous green barely-there dress and a denim bodysuit. All ended well as Thompson left the stage with the drag queens in tow and J. Lo began the show.

Another skit portrayed “We Are the World 3,” a spoof of the recent remake. Lopez played Rihanna, wearing a black and white Balmain-inspired leather jacket with gold hoops, hipster sunglasses and a blond cropped wig.

“There comes a time, eh!, when we heed a certain call, eh!” Lopez sang, poking fun at the “Rude Boy” singer.

In the next skit, Lopez was part of a Winter Olympics curling team. She played a confused Telemundo reporter covering the Winter Olympics in another.

“We don’t understand these, es loca!” said Lopez, wearing an orange blazer.

The strangest clip had to be a mock celebrity news interview in which Lopez was questioned by Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader, leading the Bronx native to scream “paciencia y fe” (“patience and faith”) like a madwoman before stomping out of view.

Lopez also performed two guiter-led songs including the Danja-produced, Wynter Gordon-written “Starting Over” from her forthcoming album, Love? Her LP is slated to hit stores this summer. Lopez still has not specified what label she has signed to, but Deadline Hollywood, the blog that originally broke the story of the Sony split, reported that she is in talks with Island Def Jam. Neither she nor her former label, Sony Records, has discussed what precipitated the split, but Deadline speculated that it might have been a response to the poor critical and commercial reception to the album’s first official single, “Louboutins,” which failed to light up the charts.

Lopez’s episode of “How I Met Your Mother” airs March 8, and she is rumored to be in talks for an appearance on the Golden Globe-winning show “Glee.”

Related Artists

• Jennifer Lopez

Lady Gaga in the “Video Phone” music video

Photo: Columbia/Music World

Monday night was the premiere of Lady Gaga and Beyoncé’s sexy, Hype Williams-directed “Video Phone” video, featuring the two pop stars dancing and posing pin-up style with massive toy guns and matching leotards.

The clip is charged with energy, and the cynics out there might wonder if putting two sizzling divas in a room together created any kind of rivalry. But Gaga says there was no such thing.

“What I was excited about is with B, I had no ego,” Gaga told MTV News about the collaboration. “Neither of us had an ego. It wasn’t about competition. It was about, like, ‘Man let’s give the world what they want. Let’s do a real girl-power collaboration where we support one other.’ ”

For the Day-Glo-tinged video, Gaga ditched her typical avant-garde look and styled herself more like Beyoncé. “I said, ‘I want to do you in your video, and I want to tribute you. I want to dress up like you,’ ” she recalled telling her co-star. “And Hype Williams … was so excited. He was like, ‘Gaga I want no makeup on your face.’ It was really stripped down — real Beyoncé hair, and we wore the same outfit in the video, and I [paid tribute to] her.”

Gaga, whose own gothic-pop aesthetic has grown more elaborate as her popularity has risen, said she wanted to honor B for creating her own style. “I wanted to [work with her] because this was an era for her in her career where she defined herself aesthetically,” she said. “And that should be applauded that a woman did that. She’s so great at what she does.”

Related Videos

• Beyonce And Lady Gaga Answer The ‘Video Phone’
• MTV News Extended Play: Lady Gaga

Related Artists

• Lady Gaga
• Beyoncé

Gucci Mane

Photo: MTV News

Gucci Mane spoke out for the first time Tuesday (November 17) since being sent back to jail last week. Through a statement sent to XXLMag.com, Gucci said he is prepared to face the music.

“I have accepted full responsibility for my actions, and I am ready to deal with what is in front of me right now,” Gucci’s statement read. “Thankfully, my label is still moving forward with my album release, so I will have plenty to look forward to when I get out. I am remaining positive and want my fans to know that I am grateful for their loyalty and continued support. I will get through this.”

Last week, Gucci was sentenced to 12 months in jail for a probation violation. He failed to serve hundreds of hours of community service and attend classes for anger management and drug and alcohol abuse. Gucci also disregarded court orders to obtain permission for his travel. His lawyer and the courts say the rapper will serve no more than six months. During his sentencing, Gucci faced two and a half years, but the judge was lenient.

“First of the year, he could be out,” Gucci’s lawyer Dwight L. Thomas explained to MTV News last week. “It all depends on his conduct and how he conducts himself while he’s there. We’re working on other avenues that might entitle him to be released early. If nothing happens at all, he’ll do six months. But if we’re able to do some of the things we’re exploring, we may get this thing down to two months.”

“You can’t hold down a man like Gucci for long,” Shawty Lo told Mixtape Daily about his friend’s sentence. “His situation is unfortunate, but he’ll be back on top in a few.”

Related Artists

• Gucci Mane

50 Cent

Photo: Jemal Countess/ Getty Images

It seems like 50 Cent and the MTV News Hip-Hop Brain Trust have a difference of opinions.

The G-Unit superstar landed at #9 on this year’s Hottest MCs in the Game list, falling just behind Fabolous, who was announced at #8 on Wednesday (September 30). But with 50 Cent’s omnipresent ventures — releasing two mixtapes over the summer, having a best-selling book and organizing his 40 Day celebration — Fif thinks he should be higher on the list.

“I think I’m #1,” the rapper told Angie Martinez on Wednesday during an interview with New York hip-hop station Hot 97. “I’m in the top five, at least. I’m my favorite, if you ask me. These other guys are cool, but not as cool as me.”

The rapper keeps blogs buzzing and is one of the world’s best-known artists, whether it’s through his antics or street records like “Flight 187.” But this year, when stacked against the competition, his heat couldn’t deliver him any higher.

But 50 took it in stride. “It’s like anyone else’s personal opinion,” 50 explained. “They may say #9, but I don’t care if they put me #41. It’s just who you’re asking that day.”

50, who in the past hasn’t exactly been OK with his ranking on the list, fired a shot at the Brain Trust members. He felt his past work was being held against him in a list that’s supposed to be about right now. He also asked how a collection of people who don’t make music can judge his work if they don’t know the experience of composing songs.

“When they do that [list], look at that table and tell me who makes music,” he said. “Who understands the pressure of competing with their own material? Nobody at that table. They’re judging me based on how they felt about me at another point. Because in 2003, they would have made me #1. And now they’re putting what I’m doing right now against that. That’s how I feel.”

MTV News will be unveiling the Hottest MCs in the Game all week! We’ll be announcing an MC’s rank every day this week, with the full list revealed Sunday at 10 p.m. during “P. Diddy’s Starmaker”!

Related Videos

• Hottest MCs In The Game 2009 Is Here! Check The Full List!

Related Artists

• 50 Cent

Fabolous

Photo: MTV News/The Source

The 2009 Hottest MCs in the Game rollout is on! As in 2007
and 2008,
the list, determined by the MTV News Hip-Hop Brain Trust, is based on an MC’s achievements right now, rather than an entire career. The criteria is based on a combination of rhyme skill, flow and how those things are implemented musically as the main factors. The Brain Trust also considers buzz, impact, commercial success — sales, airplay, business ventures, Web presence, endorsements and helping to spawn other artists’ careers — and the intangible, impact: Can an artist not only contribute to the rap game but influence cultural shifts? Are they trendsetters? All of these factors — and the results of our audience poll, which closed last week and gets a vote at the Roundtable during the Brain Trust’s debate — contribute to deciding who is the Hottest MC in the Game. We’ll be announcing an MC’s rank every day this week, with the full list revealed on Sunday at 10 p.m. during “P. Diddy’s Starmaker”!

Flame Thrower: Fabolous

2009 Rank: 8

Previous Rankings: 2007 (not ranked); 2008 (not ranked)

Why He’s Hot:
Fabolous started his Loso’s Way campaign by telling the world that it was “his time,” and the boy from Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood lived up to his claim. Loso’s Way — a concept project inspired in part by the gangster film “Carlito’s Way” — became his first #1 LP on the Billboard albums chart, selling nearly 99,000 units in its first week of release. All year, we’ve been hearing “It’s Loso, in case you didn’t know, so …” for a reason: Fab never runs out of ammo with his tireless punch lines and swag!

Right out the gate, he had big radio and club records with “Throw It in the Bag”
(and its sweltering remix, “Everything, Everywhere, Everyday”) and his latest, “Money Goes, Honey Stay” (He had the pull to not just get the beat and chorus for the record from Jay-Z, but he also scored a rare Hov cameo in the video). The rest of the album is bone-crunching: his unprecedented candor about his newborn son on “Stay,” the playful pathos of “Last Time” and the outright audacity on the “The Way (Intro).” He didn’t just play on his home field, either: Loso also came with numerous but diverse guest appearances alongside Rick Ross, The-Dream, Red Cafe, Ryan Leslie, Slim from 112, Lil Wayne, Ne-Yo and Jamie Foxx.

Like a lot of our other Hottest MCs, Fab has utilized the Web — but not just to give insight on what’s going on with his career, but he’s also introduced his followers to Fabolous the comedian. He’s a one-man Def Comedy Jam, joking on everyone from Bow Wow and T-Pain to Flo Rida. A testament to Loso’s popularity, when he speaks on topics on his Twitter page (such as Lil Mama’s VMA stage-crash), they become trending topics.

	It’s Hottest Mcs In The Game week on MTVNews.com! We’ll be unveiling a new MC every day this week, and the full list during “P. Diddy’s Starmaker,” airing Sunday at 10 p.m. on MTV!
	»10. Raekwon
	»9. 50 Cent
	»8. Fabolous
	»7.
	»6.
	»5.
	»4.
	»3.
	»2.
	»1.

Co-Signer: Ludacris:
“He’s doing his thing. He’s extremely consistent with it. He does what he does and he does it really good. He knows how to make songs. It’s a lot of rappers that just rap; he’s one of those individuals that can rap good and, of course, the man knows how to make good songs. You put them together, it’s complete. Shout out to Fab, man. Congratulations to that man! My hat goes off to him.”

Ignitable Incitement:
“You definitely want recognition for what you do,” Fab told MTV News on Thursday. “At the same time, even when I’m not on the list or get overlooked for certain things, I use that as motivation to come back until I’ve proven that, without a doubt, there’s no way I shouldn’t be on that list. A couple of times I felt that I was overlooked for different things. In front of you guys, I play it cool. At home, I break a couple mirrors and stuff! But everyone loves recognition for what you do. Maybe that’s what you do it for, but you love when people respect it; you make music, it’s an art form but the way it’s received is partially what you do it for. When I’m in the studio creating music, that creation is one process that I love. Then after you create it, you go out there and you wanna see how people receive this creation.”

Blistering Ballistics:
“These b—hes talk sh– out the same mouth they kiss you/ These n—as kiss ass with the same mouth that dis you/ Eww! You n—as disgust me/ And they ain’t talkin’ ’bout sh– unless they discuss me/ Let’s talk about how I’m killin’ everything I touches/ Or how I walked in this game with no crutches/ No Diddy, no Dupri, no Dr. Dre/ No Cash Money from Baby and no Rocs from Jay/ And I’m still here!” (from “The Way (Intro)”)

Hot Streak:
Albums:
Loso’s Way

Selected Mixtapes:
N/A

Singles:
“Throw It in the Bag” (featuring The-Dream), “Everything, Everywhere, Everyday” (featuring Ryan Leslie and Keri Hilson), “Money Goes, Honey Stay” (featuring Jay-Z), “It’s My Time” (featuring Jeremih)

Street Bangers:
“Throw It in the Bag” remix, (featuring Drake), “Feel Like I’m Back”

Key Guest Appearances:
Red Café’s “Hottest in the Hood” remix, Lil Cease’s “Talk Go Through Us” (also featuring Busta Rhymes), Ne-Yo’s “She’s Got Her Own” (also featuring Jamie Foxx), Slim’s “Good Lovin’ ” (also featuring Ryan Leslie), Ryan Leslie’s “Addiction” (also featuring Cassie), Lil Wayne’s “You Ain’t Got Nothin’ ” (also featuring Juelz Santana)

Meteoric Metrics (as of September 29)
Twitter Followers: 283,521
MySpace Friends: 485,231
Facebook Fans: 30,146
Loso’s Way’s first-week album sales: Nearly 99,000 copies; #1 debut

Business Ventures:
Endorsement deal with Reebok Classic sneakers; owner of Rich Yung Clothing Line

Tours:
Several dates opening for Jay-Z in spring/summer 2009

Monumental Moment:
Loso’s Way hitting #1 on the Billboard albums chart

What do you think of Fabolous’ placement on the Hottest MCs in the Game list? Upload your comments, reactions, arguments and/or your own list to YourMTV.com — the best videos could be on TV!