Thursday, December 24

Eminem to play first gig for five years in the UK after agreeing to drop homophobic lyrics

Eminem will return to the British stage for the first time in five and a half years after promising to tone down his homophobic lyrics.

Organisers of the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park have persuaded the rapper to drop his gratuitously anti-gay songs to avoid any demonstrations.

Following Eminem's pledge, they have agreed a deal with gay rights groups not to picket the event next summer.

The last time Eminem toured the country in 2001, gay rights group OutRage! protested outside his shows, saying his lyrics were homophobic.

Event organisers were said to be worried that another such protest would cause major disruption to Wireless, which attracts tens of thousands of people.

A festival insider said: “This is a huge signing for Wireless and it will be the hottest ticket this summer.

“The organisers were afraid campaigners could potentially ruin the event. So there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and Eminem only agreed to sign up when assurances had been made that there would not be any protests.

“It was very touch-and-go but he has finally agreed to appear. Any kind of demonstration against him could have been disastrous.

“He will be bringing a huge entourage of security with him but there is still the risk that protesters may picket the hotel he stays in.”

OutRage! spokesman David Allison said: “We have a condition that he does not use lyrics that encourage or incite hatred against gay people.

“He is free to express his views on gay people, as long as he stays off the violence and hatred. He has got plenty of other lyrics to choose from. In recent years he has become quite well-behaved.

“I think he realises singing songs advocating hate and violence just won’t wash any more. Society’s moved on in the last 10 years.”

Activists picketed his 2001 shows, waving banners and the rainbow flag of the gay movement while chanting “stop the bigotry”.

Although Eminem claims his lyrics are not meant to be taken seriously, gay rights groups objected to his use of the word “faggot” and called him a “gay-basher”.

For instance in Kill You on the 2000 Marshall Mathers album which sold 10 million copies, he singer: 'You faggots keep eggin' me on/til I have you at knifepoint, then you beg me to stop?/SHUT UP! Give me your hands and feet/I said SHUT UP when I'm talkin' to you/YOU HEAR ME? ANSWER ME!'

Eminem was to perform in London in 2005 but cancelled the European leg of his world tour citing “exhaustion”, although it later emerged he was addicted to sleeping pills.

He returned for a secret show at the O2 Academy in Islington in 2004 — the last time he performed in London.

So far, Pink and The Ting Tings have been officially confirmed for this year’s festival, which takes place from 2 to 4 July.

adapted from->dailymail.co.uk

Tuesday, December 15

Eminem Is MTV News' #9 Man Of The Year

Which stars had the biggest 2009? Over the next week, we'll be unveiling our top nine most newsworthy, controversial and fascinating men and women of the year. We based our list on factors like music sales, box-office performance, MTVNews.com headlines and traffic, overall reach (crossover singles, appearances in movies, licensing of songs for commercials, clothing lines, etc.), plus X-factors like "impact" and "buzz." (And no, President Barack Obama didn't make the list — we'll leave that to the folks at Time.) This is by no means an exact science, but we think the list we've put together represents the men and women who helped make 2009 the most exciting and memorable 12 months in recent history.

We'll be rolling out our list of the Top 9 Men and Women of 2009 two per day until Friday, when we unveil MTV News' Man and Woman of the year! As always, we also want to know what you think, so weigh in with comments below, or upload them to Your.MTV.com!


9. Eminem

The (formerly) Blond Bomber returned in 2009 with Relapse, his first album in nearly five years, but if he was rusty, it certainly didn't show. Em sold a million-plus, put the entire industry on blast, feuded with his fellow MCs and reestablished himself as one of the biggest names in the game. It was just like old times. Along the way, he also managed to stir up a whole kettle of controversy, get mauled by a fictional German TV personality and make a cameo in a Judd Apatow flick. All of which made 2009 a very big year for Mr. Mathers.

2009 Highlights: Well, for starters, there was Relapse, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard albums chart in May, with sales of more than 608,000 copies, the year's biggest bow (until Susan Boyle dethroned him in December). But in the months leading up to the album, Em hyped it with big-name collaborations ("Crack a Bottle," which featured his old running mates 50 Cent and Dr. Dre) and videos that saw him revisiting his trash-talking ways (the now-infamous "We Made You" video, which slammed the likes of Jessica Simpson, Sarah Palin and a whole lot of other folks).

That, of course, of course, was followed by a public spat with Mariah Carey and her husband Nick Cannon. (He paid for his transgressions by being symbolically run over by a bus in Carey's "Obsessed" video.) He then met the wrong end of Brüno at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, in an incident he would later refer to as a "gag."

There were the controversies, too. "We Made You" got Bill O'Reilly all hot and bothered, and as the year drew to a close, Em was getting heat for perceived anti-gay lyrics in a new song, "Elevator," which took aim at the likes of Adam Lambert and Clay Aiken.

But 2009 will be remembered as the year Eminem returned to prominence. Relapse was a smash, and songs like the gory "3 A.M." and the somber "Beautiful" earned him critical acclaim. His verse on Drake's "Forever" arguably outshined the likes of Kanye West and Lil Wayne. He was nominated for four MTV Video Music Awards, second only to Lady Gaga and Beyoncé, and won Best Hip-Hop Video. And as '09 drew to a close, he was touting a re-issue of Relapse. He capped things off by being named the best-selling artist of the decade by Nielsen SoundScan, having sold more than 32 million albums in the '00s.

He also joined Jay-Z for a surprise performance at the party announcing their "DJ Hero" game. ... Was lightheartedly accused of cheating at Pac-Man by Fif. ... Channeled Rain Man in the "We Made You" video. ... Inducted heroes Run-DMC into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. ... Promised to reunite D12 for a new album. ... And made a cameo in Judd Apatow's "Funny People."
Source: MTV

Sunday, December 13

Eminem Is The Best-Selling Artist Of The Decade

Back in 1999, Eminem was best known as the slightly screwy, bottle-blond protégé of Dr. Dre. Ten years — and millions of albums — later, he's about to be known as the best-selling artist of the decade.

On Tuesday (December 8), Nielsen SoundScan — which tabulates the Billboard charts — released their lists of the best-selling artists, albums and songs of the '00s. And let's just say the past 10 years have been very good for Mr. Mathers.

Em sold more than 32.2 million albums in the 2000s, edging out the Beatles to claim the title of top-selling artist. The Beatles ended up with the decade's best-selling album (they sold nearly 11.5 million copies of 2000's greatest-hits comp 1,) besting the likes of 'NSYNC's No Strings Attached (11.1 million copies sold) and Norah Jones' Come Away With Me, (10.5 million). Eminem was the only artist to place two albums on the list; his The Marshall Mathers LP and Eminem Show records landed at #4 and 5, selling 10.2 million and 9.8 million copies, respectively. Interestingly, of the top 10 albums of the decade, the most recently released is Usher's Confessions, which came out in 2004.


Top Selling Albums Of The Decade

The only areas in which Eminem or the Beatles didn't dominate the decade were songs and radio play. According to Nielsen — which began keeping track of digital sales in July 2003 — Flo Rida's "Low" was the decade's top-selling digital song, having been downloaded more than 5.2 million times. It bested the likes of Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" (nearly 4.7 million downloads), Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" (4.6 million) and the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" (4.3 million).

And there was none of that funny downloading stuff when it came to the decade's most-played radio songs (generational divide, anyone?) a list topped by Nickelback's "How You Remind Me" — which was spun more than 1.2 million times since being released in 2001 — and featuring names like Train (whose "Drops Of Jupiter" was racked up more than 1.1 million plays), Lifehouse, 3 Doors Down and Lee Ann Womack.

Nielsen Soundscan created the decade lists using data collected from January 1, 2000-November 1, 2009, and though figures might rise through December 31, they won't alter the rankings.

The top-selling albums of the decade, according to Nielsen SoundScan:

1. The Beatles, 1,11,499,000 units sold
2. 'NSYNC, No Strings Attached, 11,112,000 units sold
3. Norah Jones, Come Away With Me, 10, 546,000 units sold
4. Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP, 10,204,000 units sold
5. Eminem, The Eminem Show, 9,799,000 units sold
6. Usher, Confessions, 9,712,000 units sold
7. Linkin Park, Hybrid Theory, 9,663,000 units sold
8. Creed, Human Clay, 9,491,000 units sold
9. Britney Spears, Oops! ... I Did It Again, 9,185,000 units sold
10. Nelly, Country Grammar, 8,461,000 units sold

The top-selling digital songs of the decade, according to Nielsen SoundScan:

1. Flo Rida feat. T-Pain, "Low" 5,214,000 units sold
2. Lady Gaga feat. Colby O'Donis, "Just Dance," 4,690,000 units sold
3. Jason Mraz, "I'm Yours," 4,619,000 units sold
4. Timbaland feat. OneRepublic, "Apologize," 4,439,000 units sold
5. The Black Eyed Peas, "Boom Boom Pow," 4,349,000 units sold
6. Soulja Boy Tell'em, "Crank That," 4,315,000 units sold
7. Lady Gaga, "Poker Face," 4,200,000 units sold
8. Coldplay, "Viva la Vida," 4,140,000 units sold
9. Taylor Swift, "Love Story," 4,005,000 units sold
10. Katy Perry, "Hot N Cold," 3,945,000 units sold

Source:MTV

Adam Lambert On Eminem's 'Elevator' Dis

Last week, a new Eminem song called "Elevator" hit the Internet, on which the rapper may or may not have used an anti-gay slur in a lyric about Adam Lambert (and Clay Aiken and Lance Bass).

"Sorry, Lance, Mr. Lambert and Aiken ain't gonna make it/ They get so mad, when I call them both fake/ It's all these f---ing voices in my head, I can't take it/ Someone shut that f---ing baby up, before I shake it," he apparently raps on the tune — with the "Fake/ It's" combination sounding a lot like a common anti-gay slur.

In the time since, fans of both artists have weighed in on the lyric in question, Em's label has declined to comment on it (or confirm what he was actually saying) and gay-news sites like Towleroad.com have decried it as "boorish" and "homophobic." But, aside from a pair of Tweets, we hadn't heard much on the matter from Lambert himself.

But Tuesday night, on the red carpet for the launch of online music service Vevo, MTV News had a chance to ask Lambert about "Elevator," the lyric in question, and whether or not he felt Eminem crossed a line with either. Turns out, he's not taking any of it personally. In fact, he said the whole thing was a pretty smart business decision by Mr. Mathers.

"Well, you know, he used a word that's not necessarily very nice, but I'm sure he's got some sort of justification for it. And I'm not going to take it personally. It's cool, Eminem!," Lambert said, giving a sarcastic thumbs up. "If you get mentioned in an Eminem song, you're doing something right. And I'm sure he was planning on creating some controversy, because he's a smart guy."

"Elevator" is one of several new songs from Em's upcoming Relapse: Refill album, which hits stores on December 21.


Source:MTV

Wednesday, December 2

Eminem D12 Live At Voodoo Fest