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‘I don’t have anyone to bounce off of, you understand?’ Jay told MTV News a year after Notorious B.I.G.’s fatal shooting.
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Nina Diaz
<P><a href="/news/articles/1680779/notorious-big-15th-death-anniversary.jhtml">The Notorious B.I.G.'s death</a> hit the entire hip-hop community hard. Family, friends and fans mourned when <a href="/music/artist/notorious_big/artist.jhtml">Biggie</a> died March 9, 1997. His children lost a father, his mother lost a son and the rap world lost one of the all-time greats.
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</P><P>Big's friends and collaborators were affected too. In a 1998 interview with MTV News, <a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/jay_z/artist.jhtml">Jay-Z</a> talked about how Biggie's tragic death weighed on him and ultimately changed the course of his sophomore album, <i>In My Lifetime, Vol. 1.</i>
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</P><P>"A lot of different songs were influenced by what was happening. 'City Is Mine,' the first verse, you could just hear it. I think two hooks on there came from songs that he had previously recorded," Jay said of the LP that he dropped eight months after his friend passed away.
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</P><P><i>Vol. 1</i>'s "City Is Mine" served as a letter to the deceased. On the song's first verse, Jay raps, "What the deal, playboy? Just rest your soul." From there, Jay vows that "a world with amnesia" wouldn't forget Biggie's name, and then he proceeded to take Big's reins as the rap king of New York.
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</P><P>Though there were some bright moments on Jay's first Def Jam release, songs like the Kraftwerk-sampling "(Always Be My) Sunshine" were few and far between. Jay's experience in the studio was different from when he crafted his 1996 debut, when he had B.I.G. to help push his artistic boundaries.
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</P><P>"The album to me — this album wasn't fun to me like <i>Reasonable Doubt,</i> because it was like, it seemed really slow to me, and I didn't set out to do that, just looking back now and listening to it now," he said somberly in the 1998 interview.
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</P><P>Big wasn't physically in the studio; Jay revealed that the only song the Brooklyn Don got to hear and give feedback on from <i>Vol. 1</i> was the dark and brooding "Streets Is Watching." Still, Big was well-represented on the album. Aside from "City Is Mine," Big got a special shout-out on "Friend or Foe '98," when Hov famously offered to throw some ice up to heaven for "the nicest MC." Jay also recycled Biggie's rhymes on the hooks to "Face Off" and "Real N—az." The Sauce Money-assisted "Face Off" borrowed its chorus from Biggie's intro ad libs on his 1997 album cut "Nasty Boy," and "Real N—az" got its hook from a freestyle B.I.G. did over a string of Dr. Dre instrumentals before he passed. Then there was the melancholy "Lucky Me," on which Jay briefly speculated on his own death and questioned if fame was all that it was cracked up to be. "There's a lot of emotions on the album, and that was definitely influenced by what was goin' on and what had happened," Jay-Z said.
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</P><P>On Wednesday's <a href="http://www.mtv.com/specials/rapfix_live/main.jhtml">"RapFix Live,"</a> Lil' Kim spoke on the <a href="/news/articles/1680799/notorious-big-kanye-west-lil-kim.jhtml">Notorious One's relationship with Jigga</a>. "He and Jay-Z just had this adorable friendship — it was the cutest," she said. "They were so competitive with each other, but it was such a friendly competitiveness, and I loved it, because that's how it's supposed to be when you like somebody."
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</P><P>When B.I.G. passed, that friendly competition was lost. "I don't have anyone to bounce off of, you understand? We bounced off each other like, 'Oh that was crazy; I gotta make something crazier.' When you don't have that, you don't have that gauge," Jay said. "It's just hard to adjust; you have to find other ways to motivate yourself."
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</P><P>Hov seems to have adjusted just fine. When Biggie died in 1997, Jay only had one album under his belt and was on his way to releasing his second. Now, 15 years later, Jay has built a career that is unmatched with 11 solo albums and a number of collaborative releases with R. Kelly, Linkin Park and Kanye West. But back in 1998, Jay could only use one word to describe Big's legacy: "Unparalleled. There'll never be another person to come along to fill that void."
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</P><P><b>Join MTV News as we celebrate the Notorious B.I.G's life on the 15th anniversary of his death. From now through March 25, we will be rolling out exclusive and commemorative content from Biggie's closest friends, collaborators and biggest fans. To join the conversation on Twitter, hit @MTVRapFix using the hashtag #biggie15.</b></p>
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Of his rap alter ego Shawty Mane, who appears on ‘Boyfriend,’ Bieber tells MTV News, ‘It’s something that I love to do.’
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Kelly Marino
<P>When <a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/bieber_justin/artist.jhtml">Justin Bieber</a> dropped "Boyfriend," he definitely channeled his rapper alter ego Shawty Mane on the verses, spewing <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1681514/justin-bieber-boyfriend-lyrics.jhtml">lyrics</a> like, "If I was your boyfriend, I'd never let you go/ I can take you places you ain't never been before/ Baby take a chance or you'll never ever know/ I got money in my hands that I'd really like to blow/ Swag swag swag, on you."
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</P><P>The song now has many fans wondering whether more rapping will appear on his upcoming album, <i>Believe</i>. When MTV News caught up with the teen star on the set of his <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1682789/justin-bieber-boyfriend-video-believe.jhtml">"Boyfriend" video</a>, he shared just how much rapping will make the final cut.
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</P><P>"There's not a lot of rapping on the album," he said. "As people know, I'm a singer, and I don't want to get people confused with that, but it's something that I love to do, so you guys will definitely hear more of it."
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</P><P>Fans will also hear more rapping from Bieber's pal <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1678841/justin-bieber-drake-collab-believe.jhtml">Drake</a>, who recently opened up about working with his friend on the release.
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</P><P>"It sounds like everything you'd imagine a great Justin Bieber and Drake song would sound like," the <i>Take Care</i> MC teased in an interview with <a href="http://www.capitalfm.com/artists/drake/news/justin-bieber-collaboration-believe/" target="_blank">Capital FM</a>. Describing the process of making the track, he said he went about creating the song in a way he hadn't done in the past.
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</P><P>"We meet on the ground of melody. He's always like, 'Yo, your melodies are so crazy,' and 'Give me the craziest melody.' So, we sat there for a night, and it was actually a great studio process," Drake explained. "What we would do is he would go in the booth for 10 minutes, and he would hum melodies, and then he would walk out, and then I'd be like, 'I like this one,' and then I'd go in, and we started coaching each other and amping each other up."
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</P><P>Bieber also got a <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1678337/justin-bieber-lil-wayne-studio-visit.jhtml">studio visit from Lil Wayne</a>, but there's been no word on whether the pair worked on any tracks for the album, dropping later this year.
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</P><P>For anyone wondering if Bieber truly does have the swag to pull of those kinds of collaborations, <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1681863/justin-bieber-believe-album.jhtml">"Boyfriend" writer/producer Mike Posner</a>, who describes the song as "super hip-hop," assures critics that Bieber has what it takes.
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</P><P>"I think we've all known Justin since he was 13, and that's not the kid I was in the studio with anymore," Posner said. "He's an 18-year-old. He skateboards with Lil Wayne and hangs out with Lil Twist. Those are his homeys. And he listens to hip-hop, and he's a really cool kid. He's not a corny guy."
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</P><P><i>Would you like to hear more rapping from Justin on </i>Believe<i>? Tell us in the comments below!</i>
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</P><P><a href="http://www.mtv.com/photos/?fid=1617615"><img src="http://www.mtv.com/news/photos/s/spotted/banner/spotted.jpg"></a></p>
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‘I’m eating for two these days,’ she said on Wednesday’s ‘Ellen DeGeneres Show.’
By Jocelyn Vena
<P>After rumors circulated last week that <a href="/news/articles/1651931/pink-is-reportedly-pregnant.jhtml">Pink is pregnant</a>, the singer confirmed the news when taping her appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" that will <a href="http://ellen.warnerbros.com/2010/11/russell_crowe_-_wednesday_november_17_2010.php" target="_blank">air Wednesday</a> November 17.
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</P><P>Telling the talk-show host that she's "glowing," Pink added, "I'm eating for two these days. … I worked for it. … It was not an 'Oops!' "
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</P><P></p><div class="player-placeholder right" title="Pink Is Really Pregnant!" id="vid:598499" width="240" height="211"></div><p>
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</P><P>Pink explained that she and husband Carey Hart hadn't responded to the speculation in the week since the rumors first emerged because she had suffered a miscarriage in the past.
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</P><P>"I was just really nervous," Pink said on the show, according to <a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/momsbabies/news/pink-confirms-im-pregnant-20101611" target="_blank">Usmagazine.com</a>. "I have had a miscarriage before, but if I was going to talk about it with anyone, it was going to be with you."
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</P><P>While Pink didn't announce the baby's gender, she did tease that she might have to buy a lot of pink. "But the doctor kind of told me what she thinks [based on the ultrasound]," she said. "I'm terrified because she thinks it's a girl! My mom has always wished me a daughter just like me. I'm terrified one of us will go to jail."
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</P><P>The pop star even gushed about starting a family with Hart, despite their split in 2008 before getting back together in 2009. "I never had anything in my life that I didn't work hard for and my relationship is that," she said. "We worked really hard and we had our little meltdowns, a couple of them. … We both needed to do that and come back together. It's just yummy!"</p>
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Check out these clips of Nelly, Karina Smirnoff and Joanna Garcia from the upcoming episode of “When I Was 17.”
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