Stick with him all night for the surprises, Simon’s farewell and, of course, the winner.
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Stick with him all night for the surprises, Simon’s farewell and, of course, the winner.
In the Before I Self Destruct track, Fif takes shots at the Game and Young Buck.
By Jayson Rodriguez

50 Cent
Photo: Johnny Nunez/ WireImage
Is it a warning shot? 50 Cent announced in an overseas interview Monday (December 28) that there will soon be “a visual” for his track “So Disrespectful.”
The track, produced by Tha Bizness, is from the rapper’s Before I Self-Destruct album and features some choice lines directed at friends-turned-foes, including the mother of his son and former G-Unit cohorts the Game and Young Buck.
“Come on, Game, you’ll never be my equal/ Your homies shoot dogs, my homies shoot people,” 50 raps on the song. “See, me, I’m what you never gonna be/ I’m in that tax bracket you’re never gonna see.”
“There will be a visual for it,” 50 told Dutch outlet Big FM. “The record is working by itself, that one. It just plays with no assistance from the record company, because people like it and personally enjoy it. I wrote that record about people I had issues with that were pretty cool, but at some point, I felt like they crossed me. So I wrote those different things, and it came out good. People enjoy it.”
In an interview with MTV News earlier this year, Game appeared open to reconciling, even going as far as to publicly apologize to 50. But the G-Unit boss didn’t seem to accept Game’s pleas, despite Dr. Dre having patched things up with his Compton protégé.
“You shouldn’t really hold your breath,” 50 said about him and Game collaborating again. “If Dre decides to work with him, that’s Dre’s prerogative — his album, he can do what he wants. He’s Dre.”
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Newspaper editors and broadcast producers voted for the 20-year-old after a wildly successful 2009.
By Eric Ditzian

Taylor Swift
Photo: Candice Lawler
Taylor Swift came in a very close second to Lady Gaga in MTV News’ Woman of the Year countdown for 2009. In a year not dominated by Gaga, we surely would have selected Swift as the very biggest female entertainer of the last 12 months. And newspaper editors and broadcast producers across the country clearly thought Swift’s one-two punch of hit singles and awards-show success earned their votes for The Associated Press‘ entertainer of the year.
“I am so honored and so excited,” the 20-year-old country superstar told the AP upon learning of the honor, which went to Tina Fey last year. “This was so unexpected, and I could not be more grateful.”
While her second album, Fearless, hit shelves the previous calendar year, she held the #1 spot on the Billboard chart for three weeks in 2009 and at one point had eight songs on the Hot 100 chart. After performing at the Grammys with friend Miley Cyrus, Swift embarked on a sold-out 52-city North American tour. Among her many accolades, she won album of the year at the Country Music Association Awards and artist of the year at the American Music Awards.
In the midst of her awards-show domination was the unforgettable microphone-wrestling incident with Kanye West at the MTV Video Music Awards that, as the AP put it, “set off a media storm that perhaps said as much about Swift’s popularity (fans and musicians alike came to her defense) [as] it did about West’s.”
In November, Swift hosted “Saturday Night Live,” less than a year after she first performed on the show. “That entire week was life-changing, honestly,” said Swift. “It makes you feel so thankful to be a part of the music industry, but more than that, to me, ‘SNL’ is show business.”
As the year comes to an end, Swift is also looking forward to what will come her way in the decade ahead. She’s planning to move out on her own and is prepping for the Grammys in January, when she’ll compete for eight awards. We might even see some new music from the superstar, as she’s already hard at work on her third album.
“The second that I put out Fearless, the moment that album came out and I was done with it, I started writing for my next album,” she said. “I love to plan 20 steps ahead of myself, and it’s really fun competition game that I play with myself, trying to top what I’ve done last. For this next record, that’s all that I’ve been thinking about, that’s all that my mind has been fixated on for the last year, and it’s all that I’m going to be thinking about for this next year.”
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Get an advance look at ‘The Nino Brown Story, Pt. 2′ right here!
By Steven Roberts, with additional reporting by Rahman Dukes

Lil Wayne
Photo: MTV News
Lil Wayne has come a long way since he was in school, and he’s got the crib to prove it. In an exclusive preview from Wayne and DJ Scoob Doo’s forthcoming behind-the-scenes DVD, “The Nino Brown Story, Pt. 2″ (the follow-up to 2008’s part one), we get a look at Wayne’s home and hear him reflecting on his past.
In the clip, Wayne talks about his early days as a rapper. “I was still in school after I dropped my first solo album,” he said. “After I dropped Tha Block Is Hot, I was still in school. It was platinum and I was still in school.”
Wayne was literally riding the success of his 1999 debut album, with a brand-new Mercedes-Benz drop-top two-seater with a Kompressor engine. He said that many of the people in his neighborhood didn’t know such a car existed, and thought he’d had it made especially for him. But his good fortune did not end there, as he got a call from Cash Money label head Baby one evening, asking him to come to his house: ” ‘Yo shawty, come to the crib,’ ” Wayne recalled him saying. Wayne said he went to Baby’s house and was told to go to the back, where the tarp was taken off of a BMW two-seater, a gift from the label.
In the clip, Wayne also recalls that his mother ordered him to leave school. “My mom, she made quit,” he said. ” ‘Look, I’m going to let you quit school, but them b—-s better get you a tutor!’ ” Wayne said, mimicking his mother’s voice. He said he called up Baby to make it happen.
” ‘Yo B, my momma said I have to get me a tutor.’ I had the tutor the next day,” he recalled. ” ‘You gotta go at 9, shorty,’ ” Baby said.
Despite his mother’s insistence, Wayne said he continued to go to his old school anyway. “They used to make me get off the campus and all kinds of wild sh–. ‘Get off the campus!’ C’mon man, I’m my own millionaire! You gonna really kick me off a public school campus? I just was going to this [school] last week, making straight A’s.”
“I love school, like my daughter,” he continued. “My daughter cries when we say she has to stay home because she’s sick.”
Later in the clip Wayne exits the studio area of his Miami mansion walking down a narrow hallway that has one of the walls adorned with a number of guitars. The kitchen area sitting just outside Wayne’s living room is surrounded by a pile of clothes and fitted baseball caps that sit neatly on the floor. “Clothes on the floor,” Wayne confirms to the camera. After a long day of work, Weezy sits comfortably in his living room watching a Boston Red Sox game on his flat-screen television with two of his pals.
MTV News will have more footage from Lil Wayne and Scoob Doo’s “The Nino Brown Story, Pt. 2″ this week!
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From tours of the actress’ trailer to shopping at Blockbuster, we never knew what would happen next.
By Larry Carroll

Brittany Murphy on”TRL” in 2005
Photo: MTV
Over the weekend, 32-year-old actress Brittany Murphy passed away — and it’s at times like this that we here at MTV News have to take a moment to reflect back on what it was like to spend time over the years with someone like her.
A lot of what you see in entertainment news is unapologetically manufactured. But when it came to Murphy, she was as pure a star as you could ask for — what you saw at home was exactly what she was like in real life. And as we got into the MTV offices this morning and began poring over some of the many interviews we had with her over the years, it was incredibly moving to see how her personality always shone through.
“Hey, MTV, this is Brittany Murphy, and you’re now visiting my trailer — my very own trailer! — on the set of ‘Molly Gunn,’ ” the actress told us in 2002, giving us a “Cribs”-style tour of her trailer when we visited her on the set of a film that would eventually be released as “Uptown Girls.” “Would you like to see my refrigerator? We have Mountain Dew, Mountain Dew and some Mountain Dew.”
A TV shoot with a movie star is very much determined by the actor. No matter how many hours of preparation or how many creative ideas you’ve come up with, if the star isn’t eager to play ball, the footage won’t work. That was never a problem with Brittany Murphy.
At the Movie Awards earlier that year, she had given her “8 Mile” co-star Eminem a two-fingered salute while he performed — and naturally, we had to ask why. “My fingers popped up, and I was having the time of my life,” she bubbled over, happy to discuss anything. “I never saw him perform live, and it was so much fun!”
That sort of enthusiasm made Brittany seem like a real, normal person who gets excited at a concert, though unlike a normal person, she might even date somebody as cool as Eminem. Rumors were floating around that Murphy and Em had been more than just co-stars, so we again had to ask a potentially difficult question. And, once again, Brittany was polite and sweet.
“I’ll never tell!” she teased, quoting what might be the most famous line of dialogue she ever delivered — a catchphrase yielded from the commercials for her movie “Don’t Say a Word.” “[Eminem and I] became very close, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.”
On a personal note, my most memorable interview with Murphy was in 2005 for my favorite film of hers, “Sin City.” Before the cameras rolled, I told her how much I had enjoyed her in the otherwise-mediocre flick “Sidewalks of New York,” and she was eager to talk about actor David Krumholtz, with whom she had created a truly adorable love story: “That was one of the coolest chemistries I’ve ever had as an actor,” she beamed.
When the interview began, Murphy said her favorite thing about “Sin City” was “the fact that Clive Owen and Benicio Del Toro are fighting over me,” and I remembered a key element in interviewing the star: Ask your question quickly, and then get out of the way. She was so energetic that you could see her wanting to talk as soon as you began asking the question. Although that can be tricky sometimes, with her it was always fun.
“I actually didn’t realize how cool [’Sin City’] was,” she beamed. “I didn’t know that was the case until I saw the picture for the first time, the day before yesterday, and went, ‘Wow! This is pretty amazing.’ ”
A few years prior, she took us on a fun tour of a Blockbuster Video store (remember those?).
“Thank you MTV; I’m sitting on the counter at Blockbuster, because I can — and I never will be able to do this again without getting in trouble,” she giggled. “So, have a wonderful day or night or whatever time you’re seeing this, and I’m going to go enjoy my movies!”
On her way out the door, after we had asked her simply to say “goodbye,” Brittany improvised something more, flashing a peace symbol, then a bat-toosie as she giggled her farewell several times.
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We soak in the celebratory atmosphere in the Monster Ball parking lot in San Diego.
By James Montgomery

Lady Gaga (file)
Photo: Marco Prosch/ Getty Images
SAN DIEGO — Hours before Lady Gaga strutted across the stage at the San Diego Sports Arena, the show had already begun in the parking lot. Hundreds of her fiercest “monsters” — dressed in all manner of feathers, bubbles, crowns, lace and other Gaga-inspired finery — were already preparing themselves for the night’s big show, practicing their runway walks, limbering up their vocal cords (after all, there would be much screaming ahead) and pulling on their knee-high patent leather boots.
It was a sight to behold: Gaga fans milling about in the shadow of the Sports Arena, taking over a nearby Chick-fil-A, hitting up the AM-PM for last-minute party supplies. They came from near and far — some as far as Vancouver or Brazil — to worship at the altar of their queen, MTV News’ Woman of the Year. And needless to say, the mood was celebratory.
“We are really, really hot people in Brazil,” Luciano Santos exclaimed. “So we love Lady Gaga’s songs!”
“I love her … she’s an icon and an inspiration,” Hugo Salazar said, showing off his customized Gaga T-shirt. “I would go anywhere or do anything for her.”
And then after the show — a near two-hour spectacle of sights and sounds and costuming — the fans kept that celebratory mood going. Many testified that the events that transpired inside the Sports Arena were nothing short of life-altering.
“This was the best experience of my life. She is a wonderful performer; this is like my Madonna, my ‘NSYNC, my Rolling Stones, all rolled together in one,” Sandy Kennedy said. “The show was absolutely incredible. It was a three-sided stage, and she had dancers with half-skeleton heads and bodysuits on. … She costume-changed about six times, and there were vibrant colors, and the light show was amazing, and she wore a Rapunzel wig for ‘Paparazzi.’ It was fantastic. She loves us, she’s so grateful for her fans, and she understands that we love her too.”
“It was awesome. I love the fact that her costume changes were all very different … and she was really singing,” Michelle Sees added. “I know that’s kind of funny to say, but a lot of people at their shows, they fake sing. She didn’t.”
The talk eventually turned to where Gaga ranks among the elite of the pop world. To most of her fans, Gaga has already topped the likes of Britney and Beyoncé.
“Oh, she’s above both of them,” said Valerie Aparacio, who, it should be noted, was wearing not only a crown, but a bird named Mr. Fancyfeathers on top of her head.
“She’s our generation’s Madonna, and I really mean that,” Aaron Heier said. “She’s a freak. She lets everyone’s freak come out. And you’ve got to love that.”
“That’s why I came tonight,” Hazel Sandoval said, “because someone told me, ‘You know what? Gaga is going to be remembered like Madonna.’ And I’m going to be able to say I came to her concert way back when I was 20!”
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‘She was so talented, so warm and so sweet,’ Murphy’s ‘Clueless’ co-star says.
By Larry Carroll

Brittany Murphy with husband Simon Monjack
Photo: Riccardo Savi/ WireImage
When Brittany Murphy died suddenly Sunday morning (December 20), she left behind an impressive body of work and a lot of fans wondering what cut her life so short. Similarly, the Hollywood community and her own family spent the asking questions and mourning the 32-year-old actress.
“Brittany was one of the sweetest people you will ever meet,” “Scrubs” star Donald Faison said in a statement to MTV News regarding the actress, who co-starred with him in the 1995 hit “Clueless.” “She had the voice of an angel and a genuine heart of gold. I’m very happy to have known and worked with such a special person. My heart goes out to all of her loved ones.”
“I always felt connected to her as we shared a very special experience in our lives together,” another “Clueless” co-star, Alicia Silverstone, told People magazine. “I feel love in my heart for her — and hope she is at peace. This is truly sad … I loved working with Brittany. She was so talented, so warm and so sweet.”
Others stars took to a familiar, very modern way of expressing grief at a time like this, posting messages on Twitter.
“Never met her, but sad to hear about Brittany Murphy,” Kevin Smith tweeted Sunday afternoon. “G’night, Ms. Murphy; hope you’re rollin’ with the homies someplace nice.”
“Known her since we were kids. Very sad … I’m shocked,” “Less Than Perfect” actress Sara Rue wrote. “Hold the ones you love close today. Xoxo.”
“Meet the Barkers” star Shanna Moakler tweeted. “R.I.P Brittany Murphy. Too young.”
“So saddened about Brittany Murphy,” wrote actress Diora Baird. “There’s not too many broads that can make you laugh, but she was one of the top in my eyes.”
Musician Josh Groban took a more judgmental tone with his Twitter statement: “Hollywood loses another bright soul. … How many more?” he asked. “A decade of decadence and devastation. Time to wake up.”
“So sad: Brittany Murphy has died,” tweeted film critic Richard Roeper. “Did some fine work in ‘8 Mile’ and ‘Sin City’ and (chilling title now) ‘The Dead Girl.’ ”
“Had a great meeting with Brittany Murphy for ‘The Nines,’ ” writer/director John August wrote, remembering his 2007 Ryan Reynolds film that she auditioned for but was not cast in. “She was truly cool, and I rooted for her comeback.”
“RIP Brittany Murphy,” “Slither” writer/director James Gunn echoed. “She was a very nice girl and this is sad as hell.”
Although Murphy was working on various projects at the time of her death, she had most recently been seen playing a government seismologist in the earthquake thriller “Megafault,” which was released on DVD last month. Her director on that film, David Michael Latt, spoke to MTV about Murphy’s humanity. “Brittany approached every day on set with smiles and a cheery attitude. She made it a point to meet everyone in the crew and thank the fans that came to set,” he explained. “I remember one instance when she heard that a young man just came back from two tours in Iraq. She went up to this soldier and thanked him for his service, took some pictures, and gave an autograph — even though she was in the middle of a very emotional scene.”
Finally, Murphy’s father — Angelo Bertolotti of Branford, Florida — told The Associated Press that he is “broken up” by his daughter’s death. “She was just a regular girl,” he said. “[She was] an absolute doll.”
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Though he had real hits on the radio in 2009, the Atlanta rapper was a real star on the streets.
By Shaheem Reid with additional reporting by Rahman Dukes

Gucci Mane
Photo: Asylum/Warner Bros.
Mixtape Artist of the Year: Gucci Mane
Even as he’s serving time for a probation violation, Gucci Mane has the people’s support. “Burrr!” You can hear that call from the kids in the studio audience at BET’s “106 and Park” to the d-boys celebrating in the clubs. After years on the scene, Gucci Mane LaFlare made a lasting impression on everyone in 2009, when they finally let him roam the radio with a string of guest appearances on heavily rotated cuts from Trey Songz, Mariah Carey and Mario. Then his own singles “Wasted” and “Spotlight” (featuring Usher) became bona fide hits too.
Still, the airwaves weren’t Gucci’s bread and butter, the streets were. An estimated 150 of his songs hit the mixtape circuit this year, and there were dozens and dozens of unofficial CDs with the ATL trap star’s face on the cover. Clubs in the South were forced to play hour-long Gucci Mane sets, while night spots in other parts of the country also found themselves adding him to their playlists. With his high volume of work and the consistently glowing reception he gets, we have deemed Gucci Mane our Mixtape Artist of the Year.
“It always feels good to be recognized by the streets,” a humbled Gucci told us this week from jail. “That’s where I come from, that’s where I draw my music from. That’s my inspiration. It also feels good be recognized by MTV, [being someone] coming from the streets.”
Mixtapes to Check For
Writing on the Wall (with DJ Holiday): “I started recording that Writing on the Wall the day I got outta jail,” Gucci explained. “It was a couple of hours out, and I went straight in and recorded almost half of that mixtape that day. Most of that material I wrote right on the spot. Maybe two or three songs I had wrote in jail. But the whole experience of everybody coming to support, it was like a party outside the booth. I wrote like I was participating in the party. I stayed in there and spit what I was feeling. I made ‘I’m Back” that day I made ‘Game’ with Juice. It was a great time for me. I had a lot on my mind. After that, I kept working. After Writing on the Wall, that’s when it all started.”
| MIXTAPE YEAR END AWARDS
1. Mixtape Of The Year: So Far Gone 2. Other Notables Of The Year 3. DJ Of The Year: DJ Drama |
|
The Movie 2 and The Burrprint: The Movie 3-D (with DJ Drama): “I feel like The Movie 2 was one of my best mixtapes ever,” LaFlare declared. “I didn’t put the campaign forward like I did the Writing on the Wall. It was a great collection of songs. It was better than some of my albums. The Burrprint, it was great mixtape. It was humorous, entertaining and my flow had elevated on that mixtape. So I went real hard by the time I made the Burrprint.”
The Cold War Series: Guccimerica (with DJ Drama) , BurrRussia (with DJ Scream) and Great Brrritain (with DJ Holiday): “I just like to say thanks to Scream, thanks to Holiday and thank to Drama,” Gucci announced of the three DJs that helped put his box set of CDs together. “When I presented them with the idea, they was all for it. One day, me and Coach [K] was in the studio recordings songs. I came to Coach; I had a idea, ‘Let’s do three mixtapes in one day.’ I had the titles before I had the music put together. A lot of people tried to follow after me and do the same thing. I appreciate them trying to do what I do. But I don’t want to give the misinterpretation that I had a lot of music out there, and I was just getting rid of it. Half was done. The other half I finished when I had the titles. I had maybe enough for one mixtape. I had 13 songs per mixtape. So, in three days I did like 16, 17 songs and split em’ all up. That’s how I made the mixtape.
“I’m rocking with Drake,” he added about getting Drizzy on Guccimerica. “Both of us did our thing this year. It was fun going back and forth with him. He had some ideas for what beats he likes. I had some ideas for producers. We was chopping up ideas. It was challenging, any time you work with an artist that’s very creative, it’s challenging and it steps everybody’s game up.”
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‘We have different dreams. Mine is acting,’ middle Jonas brother says.
By Jocelyn Vena

Joe Jonas
Photo: Jason Merritt/ Getty Images
Joe Jonas isn’t a novice to the world of acting. Sure, he’s better known for making music in the Jonas Brothers, but the siblings have a TV show, JONAS, and they’ve starred in the highly successful “Camp Rock.” Plus, Joe almost starred in the Taylor Swift rom-com “Valentine’s Day.”
With “Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam” set for release next year — and with some time on his hands while Nick tours with his other band, The Administration, and Kevin settles into married life — Joe says he’d really like to pursue acting.
“We have different dreams. Mine is acting. I love it,” the 20-year-old told Tiger Beat. “So far it’s been really great. It’s nice to have a break. Touring can be busy and strenuous on your vocal cords.”
Joe recalled being in a school play as a child and his early start in showbiz. Believe it or not, Joe — who earlier this year parodied Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies,” unitard, heels and all — was once very shy.
“When I was in first grade I did a play about being a crayon. I was yellow. It was pretty amazing. … I was in an off-Broadway musical,” Joe added. “The director was hard on me. It was tough but a great learning process. He pushed me to get out of my shell. You have to take the advice. Be confident and have fun!”
In February, Joe spoke to MTV News about shooting JONAS. “There’s not so much pressure with the whole memorizing scripts right away, ‘cause it’s a single-camera show,” he said. “If there’s a live audience there, there’s a little more pressure to have your lines down, ‘cause it’s a little different, and it’s filmed as if you filmed a Broadway show almost. [With our show,] if you mess up, you can go, ‘OK, let’s do it again.’ You can have, like, 72 takes, and you’re good.”
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