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Relates News And Gossip
LL Cool J will become the second hip-hop artist to host the Grammy Awards on Sunday.By Rob Markman LL Cool J in the mid 1980s Photo: Paul Natkin/ WireImage Box. All it took was a simple three-letter word to jumpstart the illustrious career of a hip-hop legend. LL Cool J was unknown when he made a cameo in the 1985 film "Krush Groove" but it wouldn't be long before the rap world began buzzing about the 16-year old boy in the baby-blue Kangol. In the flick, which was based off the formative years of seminal hip-hop record label Def Jam, LL walked into an office to showcase his talents for label brass and top talent Run-DMC. After he was denied an audition, the Hollis, Queens MC simply said, "Box," signaling his entourage to cue the oversized boombox and start the music. It was then that LL began rapping his debut single "I Can't Live Without My Radio," an ode to the ghetto blasters that ruled the 1980s. Fast forward 27 years and that cocky kid in the baby-blue bucket hat has conquered every avenue in music, set new benchmarks in Hollywood and is now hosting the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. But LL Cool J (born James Todd Smith) isn't the first hip-hop artist to host the Grammys. Queen Latifah had the honor before him, but the Grammys didn't officially start recognizing hip-hop as a legitimate genre until 1989, when DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince's "Parents Just Don't Understand" won for the untelevised Best Rap Performance. Hip-hop has certainly come a long way. "When we first started the music, they didn't even play it on the radio in the daytime," LL told MTV News in October when he walked the carpet at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards, acknowledging the network for dedicating an entire show to rap music. "Hip-hop was two hours at night or an hour at night on the weekends, and that was it. So to go from an hour or two hours at night to entire award shows and whole generations of people whose lives have been changed just because they're involved with the music, that's a big thing." Just as hip-hop has grown, so has Smith. Back in the 1980s, when he first started his career, many considered rap to only be a passing fad. (MCs who clocked more than three albums in their discographies were thought to be anomalies.) LL has put out 14 albums if you include his two greatest hits LPs, 1996's All World and 2009's All World 2. There was his classic 1985 debut Radio and his critically acclaimed 1990 album Mama Said Knock You Out, which spawned the Grammy Award-winning single of the same name. In the mid-1990s, he once again proved his dominance with Mr. Smith and took his hit-making skills into the new millennium with his 2002 single "Luv U Better" off of his 10 album. Check out photos of LL throughout his career! If Uncle L's music accolades aren't enough, his strides in Hollywood have surely made him not just a hip-hop icon, but a permanent fixture in American pop culture. He started in "Krush Groove" with a brief cameo playing himself, but quickly followed up with an appearance in Goldie Hawn's "Wildcats" the next year. Since then, he has starred in major motion pictures like "Deep Blue Sea" with Samuel L. Jackson, "Any Given Sunday" alongside Al Pacino and "S.W.A.T." with Colin Farrell. LL also held it down in his own television series, "In the House," and now stars as Special Agent Sam Hanna in the police drama "NCIS: Los Angeles." It's been quite a ride for LL Cool J, and when music fans watch him Sunday night at the Grammys, they will surely see a well-accomplished musician, actor and business man, while those who have followed since day one will see that 16-year-old kid in the baby-blue Kangol and say, "Wow, he's come a long way." Chaos! Profanity! Wardrobe malfunctions! Don't miss Sway and James Montgomery live from the Grammys red carpet this Sunday, February 12, for a full three hours of mayhem, starting at 5 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And the fun doesn't end Sunday: MTV News has you covered until the Grammy hangover wears off! Related Videos A Guide To The Grammys 2012 Related Photos LL Cool J: From Hollis To Hollywood Related Artists LL Cool J
'That record is a process of what was happening in Paris at that time,' Watch the Throne A&R Bu Thiam tells MTV News.By Rob Markman Kanye West in the video for "Paris" Photo: Roc-A-Fella Records The best rap records are usually rooted in reality, but fans have come to expect their favorite MCs to use a bit of poetic license when delivering their rhymes. That's not the case with Kanye West and Jay-Z, though: According to Def Jam VP of A&R Bu Thiam, the lyrics on the Throne's "N---as in Paris" — the video for which was released Thursday (February 9) — are as real as they come. "What I realized in this process is that them dudes really rap about what they go through," Thiam told MTV News back in August after Watch the Throne was released. "I've A&R'd other albums, and people, sometimes they rap about somebody else's story or what they think is a story. But those guys, everything they rap about is what they're actually going through." Take "N---as in Paris," for instance, which has music fans across the world shouting, "That sh-- cray." On the song's hook Hov raps, "Ball so hard mother----ers wanna fine me," and while it sounds like an empty MC boast, the popular lyric is rooted in truth. Hov, who is a minority owner of the NBA's New Jersey Nets, was caught taking pictures with the University of Kentucky's men's basketball team during their NCAA tournament run last year. It all seemed like a harmless gesture, but contact between NBA personnel and potential NBA college prospects is prohibited. In April, the Nets were fined $50,000 for Hov's actions. "When you hear it, you're thinking it's bragging, but no, it's really true," Thiam said of the Throne's lyrics. "It's crazy how they take the words and they make the songs and make it reality, and you're thinking it's just verses, but nah, it's really reality for them dudes." Beyond b-ball drama, the accomplished A&R who also helped string together Rihanna's Talk That Talk said the entire "N---as in Paris" record is just a reflection of Jay and Kanye's wild outing to France. "Going out, kicking it and just having fun. That record is a process of what was happening in Paris at that time," he said. "It's real life, I promise you, it is." What's your favorite lyric from the Throne's "N---as in Paris"? Tell us in the comments! Related Videos The Throne's 'Paris': A Closer Look Related Artists Jay-Z Kanye West
Critics say the found-footage TV series, while scary, suffers from poor writing and one really annoying character.By Eric Ditzian
Eloise Mumford and Joe Anderson in "The River"
Photo: American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.
"The River" carries a sense of pop culture inevitably in its shaky, grainy found-footage escapades. After "Paranormal Activity" resuscitated the horror subgenre with its wide release in 2009 — grossing $193 million worldwide and spawning two sequels and a slew of variously successful imitators — it was only a matter of time until found-footage scares arrived on network TV.
Thankfully, that arrival comes courtesy of "Paranormal" mastermind"Oren Peli. "The River," premiering on ABC on Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET, borrows liberally from Peli's hit film franchise (as well as from past network hits like "Lost") in a midseason replacement that sees a crew venture into the Amazon to locate a missing explorer named Emmet Cole. The question, of course, is whether "The River" can replicate the successes of its wildly popular forbearers (or, perhaps, the been-there-found-that disappointments of other genre copycats).
Critics, at this point, are split. Some have found the series satisfyingly scary. Others have faulted the show's weak character development. For those critiques and more, read on for a deep dive into reviews of "The River."
The Storyline
"['The River'] is a nifty supernatural adventure tale set in mysterious river-riven regions of the uncharted Amazon. Topographically speaking, it is 'Lost' inside-out. The story is this: Emmet Cole (Bruce Greenwood), a world-beloved, globe-trotting 'Crocodile Hunter' sort, has gone missing. Six months after his disappearance, an emergency beacon begins suddenly transmitting and his former crew and co-stars, including his wife and son and the daughter of his also-missing cameraman, head into the jungle to find him, with TV cameras rolling. Emmet's television catch phrase, 'There's magic out there,' will prove to be presciently literal." — Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times
The Comparisons
"There are so many moments in ABC's 'The River' when you want to congratulate its creators for trying a little more blatantly to be 'Lost' than others will admit, and there are other times when you think, 'Wow, 'Paranormal Activity' on a weekly basis, with a touch of 'Heart of Darkness,' might be interesting, too.' Quick camera cuts, people in peril, freaky and scary happenings — what's not to like? Put them together, and you have a series that cobbles together a pretty strong rooting interest. We all need a show like this on the small screen again. But is there really a weekly series here?" — Tom Goodman, The Hollywood Reporter
The Writing
"[W]hen the characters start to talk to each other? 'The River' just feels like one poorly written TV show. 'The River' is swimming in bad dialogue and cliché characters and crammed full of conventional TV incident and fuzzy logic. Too much of it is maddeningly unconvincing." — Hercules, Ain't It Cool News
The Scares
"Many of the best moments of 'The River' are glimpses that flash by quickly; what's more scary than the thing you think you see out of the corner of your eye? Those kinds of atmospheric moments are generally more effective than the bigger set pieces the show attempts with more easily identifiable villains or ghouls. But if you like creepy scares and unsettling happenings, this show keeps them coming with clockwork regularity." — Maureen Ryan, The Huffington Post
The Final Word
"[T]he series' embrace of its narrative style, its creation of such an ominous world and its skill for generating suspense practically out of thin air are all very impressive. And if [Joe] Anderson is annoying, he's surrounded by a good mix of actors, including [Leslie] Hope, [Eloise] Mumford, Greenwood (seen frequently in archival footage of Emmet in happier times) and (as a shady mercenary protecting the Coles) Thomas Kretschmann. And in fairness, sometimes characters in horror stories have to be annoying and/or walking plot devices in order to make the story make any sense at all." — Alan Sepinwall, HitFix
'I was just flattered that they thought me worthy of such a responsibility,' Ne-Yo tells MTV News of his new SVP role.By Rob Markman Ne-Yo Photo: WireImage Ne-Yo never sought to be a music executive, but when Motown approached him to become the senior vice president of A&R, he couldn't say no. "Sometimes the music that feeds your soul isn't necessarily the music that feeds your family. So I never envied those cats who had to make those types of decisions," Ne-Yo told MTV News. On Tuesday, news broke that Ne-Yo made a move from Def Jam, where he started his career, to Motown, where he will now record and help to develop new talent. The Grammy Award-winning singer explained to MTV News that he still has close ties to Def Jam, which like Motown falls under the Universal umbrella. It was Universal Republic and Island Def Jam Motown chairman/CEO Barry Weiss and senior vice president of Motown Ethiopia Habtemariam who were instrumental in bringing Ne-Yo over in an effort to re-brand the storied label that Berry Gordy started back in 1959. "They sat me down and talked to me about the whole revitalization of Motown, bringing Motown back to its original glory," Ne-Yo said. "I gotta say, beyond anything else, I was just flattered that they thought me worthy of such a responsibility." Music legends like Diana Ross, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson all at one time recorded for Motown. "It's great big shoes to fill. I was told at one point the title that I now hold is the title that Smokey Robinson held when he was there," he said. Yes, he's been named an executive, but the "So Sick" singer has not lost his passion for music. His upcoming fifth album, which was originally titled The Cracks in Mr. Perfect, has now taken a new turn. Though fully confident in his new material, Ne-Yo said he's undecided on a title. For now, he is just creating. "As I'm writing and recording records, the project would take on a whole new personality within itself. That's just the creative process," he said. "So as of right now, there is no title for the album. I'm still working on that ... the running title was The Cracks in Mr. Perfect, but I'm in a whole 'nother head space now." Related Artists Ne-Yo
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