Akon Disagrees With Will.i.am Over Michael Jackson's Posthumous Release

'These records would have come out whether he was alive or dead,' 'Kon says.
By James Dinh


Michael Jackson and Akon
Photo: Getty Images

As with many other posthumous releases, the forthcoming Michael Jackson album, Michael, is already creating controversy. After will.i.am told Entertainment Weekly that he thought it was "disrespectful" to release the collection of previously unheard material from the King of Pop, fellow collaborator Akon struck back.

'Kon, whose "Hold My Hand" collaboration with Jackson dropped on Monday as the LP's first single, insists that releasing new music is actually a way of honoring the icon.

"I think that's probably will's opinion," Akon told TMZ of the Black Eyed Peas frontman's statement. "Me personally, I think that's keeping his legacy alive, if you ask me. I don't see anything disrespectful about it. He got his people taking care of it. We all did records that we actually worked on together on the album. These records would have come out whether he was alive or dead, so I think this actually to helps keep his legacy alive. I honestly disagree with that."

The hip-hop star explained that he hopes "Hold My Hand" will reach "another level" and be properly distributed as he and the Jackson team had originally planned.

Last week, will.i.am slammed the project, suggesting that there's no honor in the upcoming release, due in stores December 14. "Whoever put it out and is profiting off of it, I want to see how cold they are," he told EW. "To say that what [Michael] contributed during his life wasn't enough. He just wasn't any ordinary artist. He was a hands-on person. To me it's disrespectful. There's no honoring."

Not only did Akon call his sessions with MJ "amazing," but he also gushed that it was nothing short of a dream come true saying, "He was a very incredible person, very creative. That was really a dream come true on my end. I enjoyed every moment of it."

Do you agree with Akon or will.i.am on the new Michael Jackson album? Share your thoughts below!

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Stone Temple Pilots Reunited In Hopes Of Opening For Led Zeppelin, Bassist Says

'If time allows, there will definitely be new music,' Robert DeLeo adds of STP's future.
By Chris Harris


Stone Temple Pilots' Robert DeLeo and Scott Weiland
Photo: Charley Gallay/ Getty Images

There are a number of reasons why Stone Temple Pilots decided to reunite after nearly five years apart — some are obvious, and others, not so much.

Of course, the financial windfall of reviving the grunge stalwarts for an extensive U.S. tour was too good to pass up, and bassist Robert DeLeo readily admits as much. And then there are the fans, the ones who had been with STP since the very beginning as well as those who discovered the band only after it first split back in 2003 and who, woefully, have yet to catch the Pilots live.

On a more personal level, though, Stone Temple Pilots' resurrection was purely selfish, and very much an anticipatory (not to mention optimistic) move on the band's part: If, after the months and months of rumors and denials, there ever is a full-on Led Zeppelin reunion tour, STP wanted to be ready to offer their services as an opening act.

"Believe me, that was one of the reasons," laughed DeLeo. "We thought, 'We should get together now, in case Zeppelin does tour.' I'm serious, man. That would be one hell of a bill: STP and Led Zeppelin. I mean, we could play a doghouse, out in the middle of the ocean, and if I got to play with Zeppelin, that would be a highlight of my life."

Yes, DeLeo — and the rest of the band — had several reservations about raising STP from the dead — a feat DeLeo jokingly referred to as "Mission Impossible." For the band's members, the idea of regrouping was terrifying at first, but with time, the boys settled their differences and tried to think positive.

"For me, it was about putting down some of the things that I was used to getting bitten by," explained the bassist — who, with guitar-playing brother Dean DeLeo, has been collaborating with Peter Frampton on material for his next LP. "After you get bitten, it's hard to go back. I wanted to go into this with an open frame of mind and a positive attitude and just have fun with it. We should have fun with it, which God knows we didn't always have with our career when we were younger. If that's all I can say, and that's what I can get out of this reunion, great.

"I think I speak for all of us when I say there's a lot of unfinished business that we didn't get around to the first go," he continued. "Enough time has gone by, and it feels really good to be back. I don't really want to put too much thought into how it feels — I'm just kind of going with it and keeping a good positive attitude about it. I just needed to get over the things that we all needed to get over, and that's been working so far. If everyone shows up and does this thing, I think it's going to be really amazing."

DeLeo claims that during recent rehearsals, STP were "sounding as good as ever," and he credits sobriety as part of the reason the band's in tip-top shape.

"My brother's going on four years of sobriety," he said. "We have a lot more clarity in the band now, and I think with clarity comes appreciation. I saw that the other night, when we played [a secret gig in Los Angeles]. I saw it in my eyes, and in the eyes of the rest of the band. There's a lot more rock in this band now."

As for an STP record, DeLeo is not 100 percent sure that's going to happen. The goal for STP over the next few weeks, he said, is to reacquaint themselves with their songbook and prepare for their return to the road. Once the band is back in that mindset, the bassist said new STP material is very possible.

"I've always got stuff written, and there's always a long list of songs that are always there — it's a matter of timing," DeLeo said. "If time allows, there will definitely be new music. I think it would be silly not to release new music. I'd like to believe we still have a writing relationship, but the first step is getting reacquainted with what we know."

While STP were on hiatus, frontman Scott Weiland teamed up with Velvet Revolver, and the DeLeo brothers joined forces with Filter's Richard Patrick for Army of Anyone — who are now on hiatus after releasing a poorly received self-titled LP. Does DeLeo foresee an AOA reunion somewhere down the line?

"You never know," he said. "It's just like STP — I didn't know if I was going to return. Whether we get back together and do anything, I think we made a great record, bottom line. That's all that matters to me. If we make another one, I want to make sure it's great, and that applies to STP and anything I do. But I was pretty heartbroken over [the feeble response to AOA's album]."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1586020/20080422/stone_temple_pilots.jhtml

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Dane Cook Sizes Up New-Release Rivals Kanye West, Justin Bieber, More

Comedian drops I Did My Best - Greatest Hits the same week as new albums from Nicki Minaj, Ke$ha and a load of other megastars.
By Kara Warner, with reporting by Matt Elias


Dane Cook
Photo: Getty Images

With all the hype surrounding MTV News' musical Mega-Release Week — Bieber! Kanye! Nicki! Ke$ha! Jay-Z! MCR! — you might not be aware of yet another album hitting stores this week: Dane Cook's I Did My Best - Greatest Hits.

Lucky for us, the man behind the album stopped by our office to discuss his just-released comedic stylings, as well as his thoughts on the other big albums dropping this week. So why release a greatest-hits album?

"I've been doing stand-up comedy 20 years altogether — ten years of recording tracks and club sets and arena sets," Cook explained. "So I thought it would be a great way to close out the decade, a great 'thank you' to fans to say, 'These are the high-water marks that we shared,' remaster it, make it sound great. To new fans that are always discovering me saying, 'Where do I start?,' this is really the collection of what I think are the highlight moments," he said.

And for the die-hard fans out there who already have some of those greatest hits, he included a bunch of unreleased tracks on the album as well. "There's something for everyone on there," he assured us.

Regarding his competition in the new-releases category, we asked Cook to share his thoughts on some of the big names. First up, Kanye West. "Never heard of him. What is he about?" Cook deadpanned. "Kan-J? Kanye? I'm just going to call him West. That's great. I'll definitely look him up."

With Nicki Minaj, Cook pretended that we were asking about something suggestive — "Oh, no, I'm thinking of a ménage a trois that I once had" — but then praised the talents of that "guy or girl."

What about Ke$ha and Justin Bieber? "Ke$ha is like mini-Gaga," Cook said. "I think whatever outfits Gaga doesn't end up using, she probably just gets those and spins them into hits.

"Justin Bieber is, first of all, he's adorable," he said, sincerely. "That Bieber hair that caught on for a little bit, and he enchants the little girls. That 2- to 5-year-old demographic I think is really where he's at. And he's going to have a really long career, or until they turn 8 or 9," he quipped. "As long as they stay 2 to 5, I think that kid's going to be around for a long time."

Open the floodgates! It's Mega-Release Week, with Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z, Ne-Yo, Ke$ha, My Chemical Romance and Lloyd Banks all dropping new albums. Stick with MTV News for everything you need to know about the brand-new music.

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Adam Lambert's 'Whole Lotta Love': The Story Behind The Cover

Glam rocker tackled the legendary 1970 Led Zeppelin song for 'American Idol' rock night.
By Gil Kaufman


Adam Lambert performs "Whole Lotta Love" on "American Idol" on Tuesday
Photo: R. Mickshaw/Getty Images/ Fox

Imagine a freight train speeding toward you at midnight. Or a rockslide barreling down a hill as you try to outrace it. That's the feeling of the ominous, chugging Jimmy Page riff that kicks off Led Zeppelin's 1970 Stonehenge of rock, "Whole Lotta Love." And that's before singer Robert Plant leans into one of the nastiest, ecstatic rock screams this side of the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again."

That's the song Adam Lambert chose to sing on "American Idol" rock night Tuesday (May 5), and, needless to say, it was a challenge that the eyeliner-loving Los Angeles stage veteran was more than up for, hitting a series of high notes and rock screams that would have made Plant proud. It was a risky maneuver that paid off for Lambert, who chose a tune that came in at #75 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004.

The legendary British rock act recorded the tribute to Chicago blues icon Willie Dixon during their second U.S. tour after working it out in their live show, including it on their 1969 classic album Led Zeppelin II. Like many of the songs Zeppelin performed early in their career, "Love" was a blues standard turned on its head with a heavy dose of crunching psychedelic guitar and thundering drums, courtesy of late drummer John Bonham. The song was based on a 1962 tune by another blues forefather, Muddy Waters, called "You Need Love," which was penned by Dixon.

For Zeppelin's version, Plant customized the lyrics by adding some lyrical quotes from a few other songs Dixon wrote for Howlin' Wolf, "Back Door Man" and "Shake For Me," nailing the tricky vocal in a single take. It was also inspired by 1966's "You Need Loving" from the British rock group the Small Faces, for whom Zeppelin had great affection, but they also did not credit Dixon for his part in writing the original lyrics. The song became Zeppelin's first U.S. single and their only U.S. top 10 hit. Though their manager would not let them release singles in the U.K. because he thought it cannibalized album sales, the song was finally released as the band's only British single in 1997.

Dixon sued Zeppelin over the song in 1985, claiming it borrowed too heavily from his "You Need Love," and Zeppelin reached an agreement with him, with Dixon using the money he received to set up a program that provided musical instruments for schools. A cornerstone of heavy rock, the tune -- which was the theme song for the long-running British countdown show "Top of the Pops" in the 1970s and '80s -- has been covered by dozens of artists over the years, from Tina Turner and Ben Harper to Prince, Slash, Leona Lewis, Train's Pat Monahan, the London Symphony Orchestra and Jane's Addiction.

Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.

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Justin Bieber's New 'Never Say Never' Trailer Plays Up 3-D

Bieber flies across the screen spraying silly string and throwing popcorn in just-released sneak peek.
By Jocelyn Vena


Justin Bieber in "Never Say Never"
Photo: Paramount Pictures

In October, Justin Bieber debuted the first trailer for his February 3-D flick "Never Say Never." And on Monday (November 22), just one day after his big night at the AMAs, a new trailer for the flick hit the Internet.

The sneak peek opens with classical music playing as the screen reads, "This Valentine's Day," over an image of Bieber. Soon, the singer is spraying silly string as the screen reads, "See Bieber like never before." Then, Bieber throws popcorn at the camera — all tricks to play up the film being in 3-D.

Soon, a montage of Bieber as a kid flashes across the screen along with concert video and behind-the-scenes footage of the singer with various people in Bieber's camp sharing tidbits about the singer, including "He could really be huge, if he wanted" and "He's 16, and he's doing it all on his own."

At the end of the trailer, Bieber is seen learning about the cameras used to shoot his 3-D flick as he sticks out 3-D glasses and looks into a screen seeing what the 3-D will look like. "That's sick, right?" he says. "It looks like it's about to hit that guy in the head."

It was just announced that fans can catch a sneak-peek screening of the film February 9, two days before it officially hits theaters. They'll be surprised just to see I'm a regular person," he said. "I'm a regular teenage boy. I like girls, and I like to hang out with my friends. It's gonna be taking them into my world, but also like it's their world, 'cause it's just normal."

What do you think of the new trailer? Share your reviews in the comments!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1652865/20101122/bieber_justin.jhtml

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