Cover Story
jay-z & Kanye West
Will & Jada Smith
Brandy
Justin & Taylor
Scarface
Def Jam's lawyers are about to get busier. According to a post on "archival record label" and publisher the Numero Uno Group's blog, acclaimed R&B/soul singer Syl Johnson is considering a lawsuit against the Throne (Jay-Z and Kanye West) for an uncleared sample of one of his songs on their album Watch the Throne. A sample of Johnson's 1967 song "Different Strokes," which appears on the track "The Joy," was allegedly never properly cleared.
"Two decades and several lawsuits later, Syl Johnson is a veteran of copyright infringement cases, and has done very well for himself clearing samples from his fertile catalog (we're glad to say we've helped him with a few) for use in numerous tracks," reads part of the post. "He's been amply paid, as he is quick to boast in his concerts, by acts like Wu-Tang Clan, Kid Rock, and Michael Jackson. Other performers ... have not been so respectful."
The post, titled "Syl Johnson vs Kanye West/Jay-Z," goes on to say that the Numero Uno Group reached out to Def Jam's business department about clearing "The Joy" after Syl Johnson had gotten wind of the song. Last year, the Pete Rock-produced tune (Kanye West is credited as producer along with Mike Dean and Mike Bhaskar) was part of the G.O.O.D. Fridays series of leaks. Although originally intended to be included on West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, the sample was unable to be cleared in time to make the album (though an agreement was apparently reached for its use). Negotiations stalled due to the fact that the song was not actually being sold. However, "The Joy" recently reappeared as a bonus cut on the deluxe edition of Watch the Throne.
The Numero Uno Group points out that in the credits for Watch the Throne, they are erroneously identified as the publishers of Syl Johnson's "Different Strokes." "Wondering why we weren't consulted on this new use, and baffled why we appear in the credits, for which we never asked, we contacted the sample clearance house," continued the post. "Even they cannot get a response from their own clients. Island Def Jam seems to think that Syl doesn't have any fight left in him. We're betting otherwise."
Since the song appears on an album that is being sold Watch the Throne has already gone gold, selling more than 600,000 units to date Johnson is expected to be properly compensated for the use of his song, whether via a lawsuit or some sort of settlement. Messages to Def Jam representatives for comment were not returned as this story went to press
After tabloid reports surfaced claiming that and were splitting after 13 years of marriage, the A-list actor's son Trey took to Twitter to let the world know the rumors are not true.
"Did #WillandJada split? No they did NOT split ! False information ..its not true RETWEET!!!" Will's 18-year-old son from a previous relationship wrote on Tuesday afternoon (August 23), as the rumor continued to pick up steam across the Internet with no official comment yet from either Will or Jada's camps.
He continued, "Will and Jada getting a DIVORCE ..NOT TRUE AT ALL !! RETWEET. Everyone can think what they want ..even if its not true #Lame."
The couple, who married on New Year's Eve in 1997, in Baltimore, have two now-famous children together, Willow , 10, and Jaden, 13.
Us1magazine reached out for comment later this afternoon, and the couple responded in a joint statement. "Although we are reluctant to respond to these types of press reports, the rumors circulating about our relationship are completely false. We are still together, and our marriage is intact," the pair said.
Jada's rep also recently shut down talk that the actress had an affair with her "Hawthorne" co-star Marc Anthony, who has split from wife Jennifer Lopez. "All the rumors regarding Marc Anthony and Jada are false. Completely untrue," the rep told People.com.
Everyone loves a comeback, and R&B singer Brandy is looking to make her return to music after a near-three-year hiatus.
It was December 2008 when the singer released her last album, Human, and now, according to the Los Angeles Times, Brandy has signed a deal with RCA Records and producer Breyon Prescott's Chameleon Records to release her sixth album. The LP is tentatively scheduled for an early 2012 drop.
"Throughout her career, Brandy has consistently won the vote as everyone's favorite female vocalist," Peter Edge, chief executive of RCA Music Group, said in a statement. "I am sure that in her next chapter at RCA and in partnership with Breyon Prescott, we will record her most exciting music to date."
"This is truly a blessing," Brandy said in a statement. "Breyon Prescott, Peter Edge and Tom Corson [RCA Music Group's president and chief operating officer] believe in me and have introduced me to a home that also believes and knows exactly what to do with the type of music I'm doing. Breyon and the team at RCA/Chameleon are creative and forward-thinking and I am thrilled to be working with them."
After her self-titled debut hit in 1994, the then-teenage Brandy became a staple on the R&B scene thanks to catchy love songs like "I Wanna Be Down" and her Grammy-winning duet with Monica "The Boy Is Mine." The singer also lit up in front of the camera as the star of her own sitcom, "Moesha," which ran from 1996 to 2001. She has since starred in a number of films as well as a few reality shows most recently the VH1 series "Brandy & Ray J: A Family Business." In December 2006, the singer was involved in a multi-car crash that claimed the life of a woman, but she wasn't charged and was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Justin Bieber is all about surprises this summer. Back in July, the 17-year-old pop superstar took fans by surprise when he joined Selena Gomez onstage in Costa Mesa, California, and on Tuesday night, he made another unexpected appearance when he joined Taylor Swift onstage for a duet of his hit "Baby" at her Speak Now tour stop in Los Angeles.
Video footage of the duo's performance at the Staples Center hit the Internet shortly after the concert. It shows the music superstars sharing song verses and Bieber spitting a brief rap midway through the number.
Swift took to Twitter hours later to applaud her roaring concert audience and their overwhelming reaction to the Bieb's surprise appearance. "Dear amazing LA crowd tonight, God only knows what I'd be without you," she wrote. "You think you've heard LOUD screaming in your life. Then _justinbieber comes out and does a surprise song during your show. Woah. Unreal."
Bieber responded to the country-pop darling, tweeting, "_taylorswift13 we should do that more often. :) great show! #muchlove."
It was nothing but love as Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, also chimed in on the surprise concert cameo. "Had to keep it a secret all day. But _justinbieber just came out and sang BABY with _taylorswift13 at STAPLES. EPIC ROAR! #greatmoment," he wrote on Twitter.
After 10 months behind bars for failure to pay child support, Scarface was recently released from Harris County Jail in Texas and is now prepping an album for the end of the year, a rep for the Houston rapper confirmed to Us1magazine.
The Geto Boys rapper (born Brad Jordan) was jailed October 13, and it was reported by XXLMag.com that 'Face owed more than $123,000 in child support on four separate cases. Bonds were reportedly set in each case with separate amounts: one for $93,376, another for $50,000, a third bond for $30,000 and the fourth and final one for $500, bringing the grand total to $123,372.
It was also reported that the "I Seen a Man Die" MC was being held on unspecified federal charges, but Us1magazine has not been able to confirm that information.
Scarface made his mark as the leader of the Geto Boys, the Texas group that broke out with the 1991 single "Mind Playing Tricks on Me." Soon after, 'Face embarked on a solo career and dropped his own debut, 1993's Mr. Scarface Is Back. In the years that followed, he continued to release well-regarded albums, including 1994's Diary and 1997's Untouchable, which featured his Tupac-assisted single "Smile." In 2008, Scarface released what he called his final album, Emeritus. He then followed up in 2010 with his mixtape Dopeman Music before being locked up later that year.
JWADDESIGN.COM
Nicki Minaj and Pitbull will get their first shot at hosting a major awards show when they take the stage together November 20 to keep the ball rolling at this year's American Music Awards.
The hosting news fills out a roster that already includes a performance from Minaj, who will share the stage with Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Kelly Clarkson, LMFAO, Jennifer Lopez, Maroon 5 with Christina Aguilera and David Guetta with Usher. The show also unveiled the nominees for this year's Sprint New Artist of the Year award, which includes Hot Chelle Rae and Foster the People in the pop category, LMFAO and Wiz Khalifa in Hip-Hop, Marsha Abrosius and Miguel in Soul/R&B and the Band Perry and Thompson Square in Country.
Life has changed pretty fast for Drake. In just two years, the platinum rap start went from promising Toronto MC to one of hip-hop's top hitmakers. But the transition has taken a mental toll and it forms the basis of Drizzy's November 15 album, Take Care and its pensive cover.
"The album is actually a story," Drake told Us1magazine while in New York last week for his "Saturday Night Live" appearance.
The inspiration for Take Care, the MC said, came from the mellowed-out track "Houstonaltantavegas," which appeared on his 2009 breakout mixtape So Far Gone. On the song, Drake created a fictional world, describing a love affair with an ambitious stripper who can't quite get out of the life. "It was a world that was very much real to me, but I created it in my mind. It was a world that, being a kid from Toronto, I used to look at from the outside and I used to be like, 'Man that looks crazy,' he told us. All those strip clubs and all those nightclubs and the drinks and the girls and the fame."
Through his rhymes, Drake inserted himself into a scene that he would soon come to know well in a life-imitating-art scenario. "I used to stare at this world through a glass window and, like, two to three years later, I become a king in that world," he said.
On his Take Care album cover, the rapper appears draped in gold jewelry and looking bothered, with his head hanging down. Hardly an image one would expect from a kid who has moved up the ranks in hip-hop, after selling more than a million copies of his debut album in 2010. Drake is clearly at odds with his fame.
"That's who's sitting on that album cover, that kid that's just somehow gone from his mom's basement in Toronto to becoming a king," he explained of the image. "That's what that album cover is about and there is a lot of deep thought involved in that 'cause you can go crazy doing this."
Does that mean Drake has already had his fill of the fame and the fortune? "No, I'm immersed in that lifestyle, but I'm not gonna let it consume me though," he said. "That's what the album is pretty much about, just staying sane, but maybe, maybe not really though. You have to listen to it."
You would never consider rapper the Game "soft," especially on his home turf of Los Angeles. But the MC showed us his vulnerable side by proposing to longtime girlfriend Tiffany Cambridge on Wednesday afternoon (October 12).
Game staged the big surprise at Frank D. Parent Elementary School, where Cambridge works as a teacher. The school's principal even got in on the plan, calling Cambridge to an afterschool "meeting" where Game was waiting anxiously with the couple's two children.
Cambridge arrived with a big look of suspicion on her face to a room full of people. As family, faculty, media and the couple's bishop looked on, Game got down on one knee and said, "I just wanted to ask you: Would you marry me?"
Game's girl immediately answered with, "Oh, yes, Jayceon" (his actual first name), and the two embraced to a cheering crowd.
"I'm just, like, in shock right now, so excuse my expression," Cambridge told the room. "I am the deer-in-a-headlight type of person."
The same could be said for Game. For an artist who exudes confidence, it was rare to see the rapper nervous well, as much as he would let on. But he admitted prior to popping the question that he was pretty anxious.
"As a man, this is that day where you throw your player card away and you kinda gotta step up and be a family man, and she deserves it," Game told Us1magazine immediately following the proposal. "It's been a long run, and we've been together at least seven years. We've been off, we've been on, we've been arguing, we fought. We had good times and bad times, and I think that at the end of the day, as a man, this is something that I owed to her and I owed to my family, so it was time."
While the proposal seemed planned to the very last detail, you would be surprised how it all came together.
"The planning was all quick, last minute. I woke up today with a different headspace, and I just started planning this at 10 a.m., and we pulled it off by 2 [p.m.]. Four hours to pull all these media outlets, get the school in line, the principal, the bishop from the church to come down. The sun came out, obviously [I'm] sweating here, crazy."
With Game's success at prepping all these details, he might even get in on the wedding planning himself. Well, maybe.
"No, no, no I'm gonna stay on the Xbox, I'm gonna play 'Madden,' I'm gonna let her plan it all the way out, and then I'm gonna go overseas and get whatever she needs so she can successfully have the wedding of her life," Game said.
So what's the next step for the engaged couple? "Hopefully a nice dinner and some lovemaking!" Game joked.
This caps a successful couple of months for the rapper, whose R.E.D. Album debuted at #1 in late August.
1. Graylyn known as G a.k.a Mr. Fatality is a new young rapper and producer from Warren Ohio. G has been around music ever since he was born, it started when his dad use to play old school music around him when he was little. At the age of 11 he began rapping and by the age of 12 he began to research and learned how to produce his own beats. To hear more about G go to: http://www.youtube.com/user/CashiusCLai24#p/u/4/oqERDUa-DJY
2. Chip Tha Ripper is an upcoming artist that came from Cleveland Ohio. To hear more about chip go to: http://chiptharipper.com/
3. HulkGang Nick - A group of young guys trying to make it. To hear about Hulkgang go to: http://soundcloud.com/hulk-gang/sets/i-2-h-the-invitation-to-hate-1
4. Fameboy Diamante is a young artist from Sterling Heights Michigan hes a rapper and a producer of his own beats. Also began to produce his own TV show called Fameboy TV which featured him and his fans. To hear more about Fameboy diamante go to: http://www.youtube.com/user/DiamanteYungB
5. Dre da flame is a young gospel artist who started out rapping. Got there first debut on 106&park w.o.w (wild out Wednesday). Dre came out with a way to make rapping about religion cool and hip. To hear more about Dre da flame go to: http://www.myspace.com/looseanxiiety
Rihanna dropped her video for "We Found Love" this week, and the swirling clip is a look at both the sunny and dark sides of love.
Directed by Melina Matsoukas ("Hard," "S&M," "Rude Boy," "Rockstar 101"), the clip features Rihanna and British model/boxer Dudley O'Shaughnessy in a drug-fueled love affair full of lusty moments and heated fights. In the end, Rihanna walks away from it all, unable to deal with the pain of that lifestyle. The buzzy video certainly had fans talking. "This video reminds me of Sid Vicious and Nancy [Spungen], maybe not as bad as how Sid and Nancy were with each other but pretty intense," Cristian noted in a comment.
"This video is beyond anything I've ever experienced," Kirsten said. "It stuns me from beginning to end, lighting this fire inside of me I forgot was there. The passion oozes out of the screen while this video is playing. Brilliant, just brilliant." "Yes I Totally Agree Rihanna is fast becoming the new Madonna," Kyle added. "She pushes the envelop and gives us something to think about however uncomfortable it may be. Hands down, this is one of the best videos I've seen in a while. I guess I need to come out of my closet and show her some love openly."
While many fans commended Rihanna for her cinematic clip, it was hard for some not to note its depictions of domestic violence and drug use. "This video sends out the wrong message," Deshea wrote. "It's very graphic, nothing that they're doing is love, it's lust!"
In the opinion of some commenters like Kevin, the video should stand without any judgment. "The video is real and I think ppl need to stop judging her and let her do her thing," he said. "Music is supposed to provoke and invoke and that's just what she's doing. Stop hating on the things you don't understand. Ppl are only out to judge. I ain't a fan of hers but I don't hate on her either because she's a talent and she should be appreciated for the work that she does."
'I just want y'all to know I'm innocent,' Soulja says outside jailhouse after posting bond.
Despite facing some very serious criminal charges, Soulja Boy Tell'em maintains his innocence.
After the rapper was released from police custody Tuesday, SB made a quick statement to his fans and the press waiting outside. "I'm innocent, man. I love you all. I just want y'all to know I'm innocent," he said as he was rushed to his car, according to CBS Atlanta.
The 21-year-old hitmaker was arrested Tuesday after police pulled over the black Cadillac Escalade Soulja was riding in. After what police are calling a routine traffic stop, they detected a strong marijuana odor and searched the vehicle. Officers found marijuana, guns and cash in the SUV. Sources told CBS Atlanta that police found more than 5 ounces of pot and $46,000 in cash in the rented vehicle. Soulja and the four men who were riding with him were all booked and charged with possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
The men were being held in Carroll County Jail in Carrollton, Georgia, but were all released after posting bond. As expected, the digital whiz took to Twitter to address his concerned fans. "Aye can I have a real n---a moment? My fans was DEEP AS F--- OUTSIDE THAT JAIL MAN IM SORRY!!! That's love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!," he wrote.
The "Turn My Swag On" rapper also took time out to promote his new documentary DVD, which hit stores Tuesday: "Goodnight. Much love go cop soulja boy the movie everywhere now thanks for your prayers."
Christopher was shot four times in the head and chest.
Christopher Headley, a 20-year-old young man from Miami Gardens, was gunned down on September 8th and now the community is looking for answers.
STORY: She Has A Name: Tayshana Chicken Murphy, NYC Basketball Star, Shot In The Head
Chris's mom, Kristina Mahoney, has been calling and emailing Mayor Shirley Gibson about her son's case, but hasn't received any word yet.
Miami Gardens has now been dubbed the Murder Capital of Miami.
As Reported By Miami New Times:
Kenya Greene had heard the shots and sprinted outside. The 31-year-old beauty grabbed Headley's hand. He looks 16 years old, she thought, a baby. "Breathe, baby. Breathe."
The dreadlocked shooter was nearby. That didn't matter. She screamed and then began praying: "Our Father, who art in Heaven..."
"Our Father," Chris parroted in a whisper as blood poured from his mouth and down his cheek.
Fifteen hours later, after a helicopter flight to the trauma center, the young man was dead. That was this past September 9. The TV news didn't broadcast a word about the murder. It was just one of 160 in the county this year. Newspapers were mum too. Cops never even returned to ask Kenya or her slender, blond-wigged 38-year-old roommate, Charlene, any questions.
"After he passed away, no detective came around," says Charlene, stamping her feet and pointing at the still-bloody pavement. "Nobody came knocking on people's doors asking if they knew or saw anything. It just ain't fair."
Our thoughts and prayers are with Mahoney family as they continue to cope with this horrible tragedy.
1.Rihanna- We found love
2.Kelly Rowland- Lay it down
3.Lmfao- sexy and I know it
4.Beyonce- count down
5.Rihanna- cheers
6.Katty perry- Last Friday night
7.Lmfao- Party Rock Anthem
8.T-Pain- 5 oclock
9.Chris Brown- Best love song
10.Mindless behavior- Mrs. Right
When Chris Daughtry was working on Break the Spell, the follow-up to his band's mega Leave This Town album, he couldn't help but feel a sense of déjà vu especially when it came to "Crawling Back to You," one of two singles he's dropped in the weeks leading up to Spell's release. Mostly because, well, he'd heard the song a time or two before.
"It didn't make Leave This Town, and a lot of times, after being away from the songs for a good amount of time, you either go back and go, 'OK, there's a reason that didn't make the record; it's junk,' or you go, 'Man, there's something really cool about that song, but it's not quite there yet,' " he told Us1magazine. "And the more we listened to it, the more we were like, 'Man, it gets to that moment, and then it's a letdown.' So we realized the chorus wasn't quite right, and when I was working with [producer] Marti [Frederiksen] again for this record, we went back to it, and he goes, 'Let's try going here, man,' and I came up with the melody and that was it."
So, imbued with a new corker of a chorus, "Crawling" was released earlier this month as one of two singles (the other being "Renegade") from Daughtry's Break This Spell, due November 21. And, of course, a crusher of a single needs an appropriately killer music video too which fans finally got to see Thursday (October 27), when the clip debuted.
"We mainly wanted to focus on a performance video. We just wanted us to look cool, basically," Daughtry laughed. "It's a cool location, the camerawork was pretty interesting, a lot of weird angles and movement and shaking of the cameras to get some really cool effects. It was the first time I've ever had a camera strapped to me ... with a harness, and I was still trying to play guitar with this device hooked to me. It was weird, but hopefully it will turn out good."
As you probably know by now, it did. That said, there were still some moments Daughtry struggled with mainly, wearing that epic camera harness.
"Maybe it would've looked better if they had filmed me with that device the entire time," he said. "People would say, 'What the hell is that on him? I don't know, but it looks cool. I want one!' "
Chris Brown is beefing up his acting résumé with a lead in the new flick "Planet B-Boy," alongside "Lost" actor Josh Holloway. The Benson Lee-directed film is based on Lee's award-winning 2007 documentary of the same name, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Production for the film kicks off this week in L.A. According to a description from studio Screen Gems, it "is about an all-star American b-boy crew training to compete in France at the Battle of the Year (BOTY) International Championships. After a decade of defeat, the crew and their coach must go up against the best and greatest b-boys in the world: the Koreans, the Russians and the French who have dominated the original American dance form for the last 10 years."
The film also stars Laz Alonso, Josh Peck and Caity Lotz. Production will eventually move to Montpellier, France.
"B-Boy" is the latest project on Brown's acting résumé, which already includes "The O.C.," "The Christmas," "Stomp the Yard" and "Takers." He's also slated to star in "Think Like a Man," based on the Steve Harvey book.
"When acting, I feel like it's cool to use your strengths, but it's also cool to use your other abilities as well," Brown told Us1magazine in 2010 about a Hollywood career. "I didn't just wanna do movies that had consistent dancing and singing: I wanted to do stuff that pushes me as an actor at the end of the day. Because you have people like T.I. and Common that do stuff that's not around what they do in the entertainment industry as far as music, and they succeeded.
"So I just wanna branch over to that, especially like Will Smith," he continued. "He comes from rapping and going right into the acting thing, so I wanna come from the singing parts and go into acting, and people can tell the difference. I think that with this role [in 'Takers'], it was more intense, more action, more stuff that I love to do, what I love to see in movies.
Over the last week, a video of 14-year-old Amber Cole performing oral sex on her ex-boyfriend went viral. The event took place outside of their high school while two other boys watched nearby and recorded it. It wasnt long before websites got a hold of the recording and posted it for their subscribers to view.
In this digital age, way too often social media is victimizing our young people. Humiliation is just an enter key and mouse click away.
Immediately social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook filled up with controversial comments and opinions on the scandal. The hash tag topic that trended read Leave Amber Cole Alone. Derogatory words were thrown Ambers way, some of them even crossing the line to bullying.
Yes, Amber Cole performed the act, but should she be ridiculed this way? The answer is no. There are many steps and tools that couldve prevented this. Not excuses but precautions, she is 14 years old and was obviously mislead.
Sources say Amber consented to perform this act on school grounds in hopes to win back her ex-boyfriend.
On and off camera scenarios like this are wrong. At such a young age, although she does know right from wrong, our communities can be to blame.
Before Amber is any of the names she has been called, she is someones daughter first.
Where are the men in this childs life? Judging off her desperation to win back an old boyfriend that she shouldnt have had in the first place, Amber is completely vulnerable.
Perhaps there is a male void in her life which lead to her seeking validation from boys. This easily leads back to a popular community slogan, Protect Our Children.
Based off the actions of the two boys that recorded the act, this displayed that they might have not been brought up to honor and respect women.
The act took place on school grounds; this reveals the lack of surveillance that is on the premises. Where are the teachers and school authorities? Recent studies show that teachers do not care; teachers are leading with less compassion. Its evident.
In Atlanta over 100 principals and teachers were accused of irresponsibly helping their students cheat on broad exams. Some even admitted to it.
What is happening in our communities that teachers are even giving up on our youth? School officials are people we are suppose to trust when we drop our children off, the case of Amber Cole points out the disregard to childrens safety.
I believe video sharing websites such as YouTube and other outlets should be held accountable for the images that are displayed.
The founders are allowing these uploads to go viral without setting up a system that carefully screens uploads before they are live.
There are ways to thoroughly verify that a child is 18 before logging into such websites. There are ways to screen uploads before they are published. There are ways, and people are ignoring the precautions.
Just like video sharing websites can control what goes on, so can social networking and social media websites.
Filtering out the explicit content should be a priority for these key companies. Child pornography shouldnt be something hosted. It is not until legal action is taken before a video is flagged and removed, why should it take that before something ethical is done?
We live in an age where bullying has ended in suicide and longtime internal scaring. Although this has not been verified by a credible source, there is talk that Amber is on a suicide watch.
In the midst of the hoopla other children have been expressing their frustration and how they have been affected by the Amber Cole incident.
A young girl uploaded footage of herself pleading in tears for everyone to leave Amber Cole alone. The reality of how much cruelty exists in the world starts to set in with kids and some do not take it well.
Instead of heavily poking fun at Amber for her actions, we can mentor her; perhaps its the lack of love that got her in the situation in the first way.
We are supposed to wrap our arms around her and uplift her to that place that she will never feel obligated to do something like that again.
Lathleen is an entertainment reporter and freelance writer based in New York City.
-Lathleen Ade-Brown
This year's nominees are headed by a group of female acts, with Adele topping the list at four, followed by Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Katy Perry with three. The Artist of the Year race will pit lone male Lil Wayne against Gaga, Perry, Adele and Taylor Swift.
The Pop or Rock Music: Favorite Album nominees also belong to the women, with Gaga's Born This Way, Rihanna's Loud and Adele's 21.Meanwhile, the Pop or Rock Music: Favorite Female Artist nominees are Adele, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. There are some gentlemen in the mix, of course: The Pop or Rock Music: Favorite Male Artist nominees are Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars and Pitbull.
The Rap/Hip-Hop Music: Favorite Artist nominees include Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj and Kanye West. All three nominees are also up for Rap/Hip-Hop Music: Favorite Album with Tha Carter IV, Pink Friday and the Jay-Z-assisted Watch the Throne, respectively.
Chris Brown, Usher and Trey Songz are all looking to take home the trophy for Soul/Rhythm & Blues Music: Favorite Male Artist. Former Destiny's Child members Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland face off against Rihanna for Soul/Rhythm & Blues Music: Favorite Female Artist.
The first 24 hours of Nikki Reed and Paul McDonald's married life seem to be going quite well. The newlyweds took to Twitter to let their fans know just how happy they are after Sunday's wedding.
"Yesterday was the most magical day of my life..." the "Twilight" actress tweeted Monday (October 17), one day after she said "I do" to the "American Idol" singer.
"Yesterday was the most amazing day of my life," Mc Donald wrote, echoing his bride's enthusiasm. "Everything was perfect. I'm officially a MARRIED MAN! Woohoo!"
