Usher Says New 'Rev Pop' Project Is A 'Movement'

Singer teases his new project by pointing to past hits like 'Yeah!' and 'OMG.'
By James Montgomery


Usher
Photo: MTV News

With the success of songs like "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love," "Hot Tottie" and "OMG," Usher had himself a fairly massive 2010. But rather than rest on his laurels, he's looking to build on his big year, not with an album, but with a "movement."

It's something he's calling "Rev Pop" — or, simply, "Rev" — and though he's already teased his idea in a video with David Guetta (Akon is also involved), he has yet to speak in full about it. So when MTV News caught up with Ush before the 53rd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles at the (Belvedere) RED launch party, we asked him about his next musical endeavor. And though he didn't reveal much, he did let it be known that "Rev" isn't exactly something new. In fact, he's been doing it for a while now.

"I'll give it to you this way: At a later date, I'll tell you more about Rev Pop, but if I were to give you a flash: I've done it before, I did it with 'Yeah!' " he said, "taking a cultural experience, and also worldwide recognition of a feeling, and putting the soul in the middle of it. Not allowing it to shift heavily to R&B genre, or pop. I did it again with 'OMG,' once again putting the soul in the middle of it, which was an electric-pop experience, with the soul.

"It's bringing those elements together to tell a story, that was born here," he said, gesturing toward his heart, "And that's what Rev Pop is. There's more, I mean, I could really elaborate, but that's just what I'm going to tell you right now. 'Rev' is what it's called ... the movement is called Rev."

Usher wouldn't say just when his fans would be getting their first taste of Rev, but whenever they do, it sounds like they're going to be impressed ... if not a little shocked.

"Stay alive," he smiled, "Because you're definitely going to be in for a surprise."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1658043/usher-rev-pop.jhtml

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Celebrities Including Vanessa Hudgens, Paris Hilton And Uma Thurman Attend Exclusive Chanel Pre-Oscars Party

Celebrities including Joanna Garcia, Uma Thurman, Rosanna Arquette, Camilla Belle, Ryan Phillippe, Vanessa Hudgens, Russell Brand, Haley Bennett, James Marsden, Nicky Hilton, Paris Hilton, Drew Barrymore, Juliette Lewis, Marisa Tomei, Emma Roberts, and Hayden Panettiere attended an exclusive Chanel Pre-Oscars … Continue reading

Source: http://www.imnotobsessed.com/2011/02/27/celebrities-including-vanessa-hudgens-paris-hilton-and-uma-thurman-attend-exclusive-chanel-pre-oscars-party/

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Charlie Sheen's Comedy Central Roast

Taking his center stage seat in preparation of an onslaught of jokes and stories told at his expense, Charlie Sheen was the subject of conversation at Sony Studios on Saturday night (September 10).

On hand for the former "Two and a Half Men" star's Comedy Central's Roast were a long list of stars including his ex-wife, Brooke Mueller, as well as Mike Tyson, Kate Walsh, William Shatner, Kristin Cavallari, Jeffrey Ross, Steve-O, Seth MacFarlane, Jon Lovitz and Maria Menounos, among others.

While many of the Sheen-focused speeches were a bit too strong-languaged to print, an example of the night's roasting is Jon Lovitz's joke, in which he asked, "How much blow can Charlie Sheen do?"

After a short pause, the "Saturday Night Live" alum continued, "Enough to kill 'Two and a Half Men."

Taking it all in stride, Charlie - who turned up in a gray suit with a red tie - finally got his chance to speak to the audience, during which time he said, "It's true I've hung around a lot of shady characters, but to have you all here on one night is really special."

The pre-taped roast of Charlie Sheen is set to air on Comedy Central on September 19th - the same night as his former CBS show's season premiere.

Source: http://celebrity-gossip.net/comedy-central-roast-charlie-sheen/charlie-sheens-comedy-central-roast-542253

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Brad Pitt On Work And Parenting

If you hadn’t heard yet (I won’t say too much to avoid spoiling it), Brad Pitt’s character in ‘Tree of Life‘ isn’t the most, well, nicest guy. He’s not the most nurturing parent. I guess that’s a good way to … Continue reading

Source: http://www.imnotobsessed.com/2011/05/25/brad-pitt-parenting-tree-of-life-angelina-jolie/

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Lady Gaga Recalls 'Jet Black' Sky On September 11

MTV parent company Viacom recruits Gaga, DJ Pauly D, Nas and others to answer 'What will you do to remember?'
By Jocelyn Vena, with additional reporting by Christina Garibaldi


Lady Gaga
Photo: MTV News

As many Americans reflect on the events of September 11, with the upcoming the 10th anniversary of the terror attacks, MTV parent company Viacom has teamed with artists including Lady Gaga, Nas, DJ Pauly D, Julianne Hough and Drake Bell to launch a national day of service campaign that asks, "What will you do to remember?"

Gaga, a native New Yorker, recently remembered where she was and what she was doing when it all happened. "On September 11, I was at school with my girlfriends," she recalled of the day that forever changed her home city.

"I just remember that the history teachers had us all piled into one room and had a television on and none of us believed it was happening," she continued. "So we didn't believe it, so we ran up to the roof and I just remember we got up to the roof, and one tower had already fallen and we all watched the second tower fall all together."

While Gaga was not anywhere near the actual site of the attack in downtown Manhattan, her mother was near it. "I don't know; you really can't describe something like that," she said. "It's too horrific. We were in disbelief. I still think sometimes I'm in disbelief.

"My dad picked us up, we couldn't reach my mom for a long time because she worked right across the street," she continued. "We were really nervous and I just remember all we saw were these young men, really young. You could tell they worked on the floor at the stock and they were in their jackets and they were just covered in ashes and all you could see was the lines from the tears on their face. [My school] was miles and miles away, but the sky that hovered above us was jet black."

Through Sunday, Viacom's networks will air specially produced "I Will" public service announcements featuring artists and actors, including Gaga, Fran Drescher, Pauly D, Nas, Hough and Bell, along with Viacom employees.

The multiplatform public service campaign is designed to inspire Americans to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the attacks by committing to good deeds, charity or volunteer service. Working with MyGoodDeed and HandsOn Network, organizers of this year's September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance, the "I Will" campaign asks participants, "Ten years later, what will you do to remember?"

"Every year on September 11 with my family, we take a moment together and acknowledge a tremendous loss in our city and in the world," Gaga said. "I remember so many friends that lost family and so many people that lives were changed forever.

"It's a moment to honor New York," she continued. "It's a moment to come together and realize that New York really is forever changed and will always now be a family."

What will you do to remember 9/11? Share your thoughts below, and visit 911day.org to upload your video response.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1670467/lady-gaga-911-commemoration-i-will.jhtml

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Tony Parker And His Buddy Bradley Cooper Enjoy The French Open

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Source: http://www.imnotobsessed.com/2011/05/30/tony-parker-and-his-buddy-bradley-cooper-enjoy-the-french-open/

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Buddy Holly Finally Gets A Star On The Hollywood Walk Of Fame

Well, if ever the term ?better late than never? was applicable, now is the time.  Some fifty years after his death, and after the fact that he had revolutionized rock ?n roll forever, Buddy Holly finally got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The presentation went down yesterday, September 7th, which was Holly?s [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/beatcrave/~3/IgfCeLhZPiw/

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Miss USA Rima Fakih Reflects On 9/11, Muslim Identity

'I think our generation has grown,' the 25-year-old Arab-American tells MTV News of the decade since terrorist attacks.
By Gil Kaufman, with reporting by Tami Katzoff


Rima Fakih
Photo: WireImage

On Sept. 11, 2001, Rima Fakih was a student at St. John's Prep High School in Astoria, Queens. She was in a social studies class when a student behind her said that the World Trade Center had been hit, and from the window of the school, she could see that he was right.

"All you could see was just some big black smoke," she said, noting that her teacher's husband worked in the buildings at the time and that the students had to bring their instructor water to try to calm her down.

It was a defining moment in the life of Fakih, a Lebanese immigrant who last year became the first Muslim and first Arab-American to win the Miss USA crown.

"It was kind of a nightmare, to be honest with you, because the principal came on the speakers and was saying, 'Attention, students: Please everyone report down to the basement. We need you all in shelters.' I just couldn't move because my older brother Rabih worked across the street from the World Trade Center, he worked with Goldman Sachs." In addition, her older sister worked in tower seven of the WTC and her father was on his way to work at the time.

When Fakih got home, her mother was on the ground in tears, barely able to breathe because the attacks evoked vivid memories of the 15-year Lebanese civil war that had forced the family to flee their homeland. "I was born in South Lebanon during the war and I remember vivid memories [of] hiding in shelters during the shelling," Fakih told MTV News. "At that moment, it felt just like that."

With her father stuck on the Queensboro Bridge and her mother unable to reach Fakih's siblings, the tension mounted during the day. Her father eventually made it to safety at an uncle's house, while, luckily, her newlywed brother, just back from his honeymoon, had taken a few extra days off at his new wife's request.

Unfortunately, nobody could reach her sister. "It was very terrifying. I remember my little brother was a baby and he was asking my mom to change the channel because he couldn't watch the scary movie anymore," she recalled.

The images of the planes hitting the buildings kept playing all day, with the building Fakih's sister worked in clearly visible in the footage. Finally, though, they got word that her sister had spent 12 hours in a shelter, wearing a gas mask, a scenario so haunting that she ended up in therapy for more than a year. "She saw people jumping out of the buildings ... on fire, from the top," Fakih said of her sister Rana. "She was in a meeting when the first plane hit and the windows shattered."

A veteran observer of the war in Lebanon, Rana counseled her co-workers to take shelter and stay away from the windows. Some, however, didn't take her advice and ended up dying that day. "I remember how hard it was for my family and I at the time to not only live around the atmosphere of New York City, but to receive a lot of stereotypes," Fakih said of her family, which owned a Middle Eastern restaurant on New York's Upper East Side for 20 years.

Bricks were thrown through the restaurant window and business tanked in the wake of the attacks as a result of the some of the post-9/11 anti-Muslim sentiment, with Fakih remembering how she was bullied at a her Catholic high school by some students who made rude comments. "Every time something would happen, I would be scared. I'd watch TV and ... [think], 'Please God don't let this be a terrorist act; don't let this be Arabs or Muslims."

The family moved to Dearborn, Michigan, in 2003, a city that boasts the highest concentration of Middle Eastern immigrants in the U.S., and they felt much more at ease. Rima began attending the University of Michigan, but unlike some of her Arab-American peers, she did not change her name in order to fit in and escape greater scrutiny. She held fast to her identity, even when some fellow Muslims warned her not to enter the Miss USA pageant because they believed she could never win.

Ten years later, though, she thinks things have gotten better.

"I think I'm a great example to that," she said. "Winning the crown of Miss USA, being the first Arab American, the first Muslim-American and possibly the first immigrant to win the title of Miss USA just testifies to the fact that there is freedom in this country and there is justice and there is freedom of religion and freedom of choice and this is what America is based on."

Fakih said the 9/11 attacks planted fear in a lot of people in her generation, including her. "I might be an Arab and a Muslim, and I might get on a train sometimes and see a man leave a bag and I just don't want to touch it, I want to get off at the next stop," she admitted. "Now, I think our generation has grown. My generation especially has seen so much fear and then so much change and growth in the [last] 10 years that it planted this fearlessness inside us and this ability to feel like we live in a country where you can do anything and we can overcome."

And when people asked whether she could win the Miss USA title, she'd say, "If Barack Hussein Obama is in office, then Rima Hussein Fakih can win Miss USA."

As part of the "I Will" campaign to commemorate the 9/11 attacks as a national day of service and remembrance, we asked Fakih how she'll mark the anniversary on Sunday. "On September 11, I will call to check on my sister and my older brother, who worked at the World Trade Center, to make sure that they still love and trust this county as much as everyone else."

What will you do to remember 9/11? Share your thoughts below, and visit 911day.org to upload your video response.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1670499/miss-usa-rima-fakih-september-11-memories.jhtml

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