Music Artists, Videos and News

The week is over (as is the month of July), so it’s time to close the books here in the Newsroom. It was another wild one, with plenty of beef, a handful of rumors, a little hilarity and at least one incredibly amazing video care of Shakira. But what lessons did we learn? You can feel confident walking into the weekend knowing that you can take the following revelations as absolute truth.

» It’s unlikely that Eminem will be buying Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon an anniversary gift.

» William Shatner has a knack for nonsensical poetry. Got a Twitter account? He’ll kill that too.

» Madonna may have been hitting the gym too hard. (Though she’s still not as jacked as Trent Reznor.)

» The Backstreet Boys had a ton of hits, and they’re likely making more.

» In a way, the “Saved by the Bell” reunion already happened, but then again it may never happen.

» Katy Perry and Rihanna both love a good lollipop.

» Nicki Minaj is quite photogenic. (But you probably already knew that.)

» Joe Jonas and Camilla Belle broke up, and you’re siding with the former.

» You shouldn’t ask Kid Rock about Twitter. You probably shouldn’t bring up Facebook, Tumblr or fax machines while you’re at it.

» Ludacris will name his next album Ludaversal, but wouldn’t Transludas: Revenge of the Fallen have been a great alternative?

» Finally, if you hear about somebody pulling out clumps of Taylor Momsen’s hair in the near future, you can probably guess who is responsible.

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She has performed with Def Leppard, T-Pain, Miley Cyrus, Kellie Pickler and yes, even the Jonas Brothers. While hard at work on her new album, Taylor Swift shared with MTV News how much she’d like to work with White Stripes/ Raconteurs/ Dead Weather frontman Jack White.

Given the diverse kinds of talent she’s worked with over the last year, it doesn’t seem that far-fetched that Taylor and White might hit up the studio sometime soon and work on some tracks. It got us searching our archives to see who else Taylor has talked about who she wants to work with (or vice versa) and we picked our favorites!

5) John Mayer: “He Twittered the other day that he wrote a song, and he wants to make it a duet with me,” she said. “I freaked out when I heard, because I’ve been such a big fan of John for such a long time.”

4) Selena Gomez: “We have talked about a duet,” Selena said. “I think it would be really neat to have the country vibe.”

3) T.I. and 2) Kanye West: “I’d like to do a completely off-the-wall collaboration,” she said. “I would like one of my songs to be the hook to a rap song. That would be so much fun! You know, I love Kanye West and I love T.I. — he’s amazing.”

1) Tim McGraw: “But you know the dream for me would be Tim McGraw singing background vocals on one of my songs,” she once told MTV News.

So, who would you like to see Taylor work with next? Let us know in the comments or head over to Your.MTV.com to make your voice heard!

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“Any random person can type something on the Internet and then the world believes it. I don’t talk to press or do TV or do promotions of any sort. I’ve stopped chasing and buying into fame. Fame is like cigarettes with no surgeon general warning. It destroys most people as it did to the true and only King of Pop. We exploit ourselves and eat our own egos ’till there is nothing left. I have a feeling that this won’t be the last false statement with my name on it, but this will be the last time I defend myself. I’m done.”

-Kanye West, responding to rumors that he had declared himself “The New King of Pop” following the death of Michael Jackson. West heard the topic being discussed on Wendy Williams’ radio show and fired up his blog to dispute the quote. “”Not only did I not say that, I haven’t said anything,” West wrote (in all caps, of course). “It makes me feel bad that obviously I made people feel that I would be corny enough to say something so whack after the passing of an idol, a legend and, more than that, a human being with feelings and family.” West also used his blog in the wake of Jackson’s death, leaving the message “Thanks for everything, Mike” on the day that the singer died. And of course West’s own “Good Life” samples Jackson’s “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing).”

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This morning, the latest shot was fired in the beef between Eminem and Mariah Carey. Their war of words started a few years ago when rumors circulated that the two had been involved in a romantic relationship and escalated with the release of Em’s “Bagpipes From Baghdad” from this year’s Relapse. From there, Carey released the single “Obsessed,” which also came with an accompanying video that appears to be aimed at Eminem (though Carey and husband Nick Cannon — who was also attacked in “Bagpipes From Baghdad” — have repeatedly denied that the song or video are directed at any one person). Then came this morning’s dis track “The Warning,” a bile-filled Em rant wherein he talks about recordings they made, recounts their supposed sexual encounter and makes several threats against her life. It’s the sort of anger Slim Shady usually reserves for the likes of Ja Rule or Benzino.

It’s a pretty stunning and aggressive track, though it made us wonder: Has he gone too far? We hit the streets this afternoon to poll some people to see if they thought Em had gone over the line.

The (extremely unscientific) results are in, and 61 percent of those polled thought that even though the song was extreme, it still doesn’t go too far. Those respondents were very willing to let Shady off the hook — not an unreasonable stance, especially considering he has spent most of his career taking down celebrities and attacking other musicians with his lyrics. The 39 percent who thought “The Warning” was too much were mostly uncomfortable with the threats of violence. One thing that everybody could agree on, though: This feud is far from over.

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“Funny People,” the latest film from “Knocked Up” director and all-around Hollywood comedy tastemaker Judd Apatow, opens today nationwide (and is getting excellent reviews). It stars a bunch of Apatow regulars like Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill but marks the first collaboration between the director and star Adam Sandler. The accompanying movie soundtrack features a whole bunch of classic rock tunes (including a never-before-heard demo of John Lennon’s “Watching the Wheels”) and also contains a recording of Sandler playing the Lennon song “Real Love.” Though he has long-established himself as a legitimate film star, Sandler got his start playing funny songs on “Saturday Night Live” and on several hit albums (including They’re All Gonna Laugh at You and What the Hell Happened to Me?). Sandler even scored a radio hit with “The Hanukkah Song,” something that finds its way onto rock radio every December.

But Sandler hasn’t totally hung up his musical spurs. He performed on last year’s “VH1 Rock Honors: The Who” (he shredded on “Magic Bus”) and lent his axe skills to an all-star jam of Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” (along with Conan O’Brien, Jack Black and Jimmy Fallon). And at last year’s MTV Movie Awards, he penned this ode to the winner of the MTV Generation Award — himself.

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