MTV's Scream

New Scream TV Series Trailer Reveals New Killer

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Everything under the sun is getting remade, revamped, re-imagined, and rebooted these days, whether it be a new Mega Man cartoon, Bruce Campbell returning to the Evil Dead world in Ash vs. Evil DeadReBoot getting its own live-action/CG hybrid reboot, and the Powerpuff Girls are getting a makeover. I know I only focused on TV shows, but really - is nothing sacred?!

I say that with my tongue firmly in my cheek, as we all know the Hollywood cycle by now, as it has also found its next target: Scream. In case you haven't heard, the popular metafictional film series that ruled the mid-'90s through the early '00s. This time around, however, MTV is adapting the franchise for a new generation and a new format as Scream will be premiering as an MTV series on June 30th.

This first trailer for the series introduces us to the new generation of potential Ghostface victims, complete with a modernized version of the popular "Scream" mask that, quite frankly, is a lot more frightening. The premise, which revolves around a YouTube video gone viral that resulted in the death of a high school student, is similar to this year's Unfriended, albeit without the angle of utilizing a computer screen to depict the film.

Watch the trailer above and let us know what you think!


Still from Nicki Minaj's Anaconda music video

Video Saved the Radio Star: How YouTube Pulled Off What MTV Couldn't

In 1981, MTV revealed their very first music video, the ironically titled "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles. In that single moment, the age of visual media exploded and radio began its decline into obsolescence. To this day, most of what you'll find playing on radio is the same recycled Top 40 hits over and over again. For an artist to gain any type of fame, it used to be that they'd have to work to get their single on the radio, and after a few weeks of play, get to have a music video on TV. Fortunately, that's not the way it works anymore.

With the rise of the Internet age, video sites like YouTube helped revolutionize the music video medium. While it may have damaged the music industry in terms of revenue, it's been pretty damn great for the rest of us. With every video wanting to become the next "viral" sensation, music videos are finally doing what they were intended to do and make us want to buy music again.


SXSW 2014 by Kristen Wrzesniewski

[SXSW] Music Festival 2014 Recap

Photo by Kristen Wrzesniewski

In 1977, a water skiing Henry Winkler wore a leather coat and life preserver and attempted to 'jump the shark' in a move that become synonymous with the beginning of the end of a good thing. In that regard it was the long-running "Happy Days" sitcom. Last week in Austin, Texas, it was the South by Southwest Music conference that took the leap from humble beginnings to corporate cash in it's own rendition of 'jumping the shark'. No one pointed it out better than TDE-signee and Oxymoron artist Schoolboy Q, who interrupted his set at the Complex House several times to address several SXSW sets he played for 'yuppies' while his real fans stood outside unable to get in. Alas, the 2014 edition of SXSW couldn't have been described better. An armful of wristbands, garnered through careful planning and RSVPs was instantly trumped by a litany of barriers between them and the artists they had traveled to see. When it began in 1987, the festival was a place for new and unsigned artists to get recognized and for true fans to catch them before they hit the big time. Today, to put it the words of my Journalism professor, it is essentially 'one big blow job'. Despite a lack of a real industry, or perhaps because of it, record labels funnel top-tier artists to the highest bidders, who more often than not come with long guest lists that leave fans sitting outside wondering where all the public transportation in this 'city' is. Even the Illmore, the exclusive house party that has become a staple of the fest, running late into the night with star-studded performance, seemed a bit too big this year in it's new home at a sterile youth center.

For me, the best part of the week was living vicariously as if the SXSW Schoolboy Q encountered was somewhere else. I hustled interviews with true rising acts in Philadelphia-based Cheers Elephant, who's onstage presence is obviously culled from years of performing together and who I'm sure saw a significant boost afterwards, The Tontons, a Houston indie/soul group with a personality to match that hit SXSW on the heels of their latest project, the well received Make Out King and Other Stories of Love. Then there was Radkey, the trio of young brothers, aged 16, 18 and 20 respectively who single-handedly got me back into punk rock with one of the wildest, most raw sets I have seen in a long time, and 17-year-old Bishop Nehru who very well may be the second coming of Nas, The Lonely Biscuits, a band of Belmont University students who stopped down to ATX between projects and mid-terms. They weren't a sit down with Rick Ross, or an in-depth on Phantogram, but the stories I was able to dig up throughout my time at SXSW made me proud to be able to say I saw through the thick haze of bullshit and gerrymandering that descends on the city for a week and actually seek out acts that benefited from the experience.

To be sure, it was two Chicago artists who not only embodied all that SXSW should be, but capitalized on it to continue their independent, organic rises out of their hometown. A year ago, Chance The Rapper ran around SXSW playing sets in anticipation of his yet-to-be-released album, Acid Rap that turned 2013 into a roller coaster of experiences for the 20-year-old MC. At that time, Vic Mensa was still performing as part of the band Kids These Days, which broke up soon after Chance dropped his project on April 30. The two close friends arrived again in Austin at wildly different points in their careers. Chance, with just about every accolade possible under his belt is becoming the biggest independent artist in recent memory, while Mensa, fresh off a plane from Norway, put on a marathon of sets throughout the week that had crowds buzzing in the street about the kid from the Midwest with the funky, different flow to him. Chance's only show was cut short by Fire Marshalls, an ode to his popularity and a crux of the festival at large while also picking up a Woodie award with Austin Vesely for the "Everybody's Something" video. As independent, self-funded artists, Chance and Vic may have embodied the spirit of what SXSW is supposed to be better than anyone else in Austin this week.

In 1977, Fonzie made history by ruining a good thing while ten feet in the air on water skis, in 2014 Lady Gaga did the same by performing beneath a carefully-placed canopy of Doritos bags. Corporate money has always been prevalent (early 2000s 'ringtone rap), and it's just another chapter in the money making something so genuine so utterly unrecognizable.


Schoolboy Q and Vic Mensa

[Video] Scoolboy Q, Vic Mensa & Vado on 'RapFix Live'

Wednesday might as well have been "Come Up Day" over at the MTV RapFix studios in New York City. I say that because Sway, wearing a SaveMoney sweatshirt nonetheless, found himself flanked by two of the most aggressively progressive artists in hip-hop today in Vic Mensa and Schoolboy Q who were also joined by Cam'ron protege, Vado. The four men chopped it up between the couches with Sway, touching on what's come, what's gone and what's on the horizon. Schoolboy Q, whose album, Oxymoron is about ready to explode from anticipation leading up to the February 25 release date, showed up looking like he stole a page out of Pharrell's style book with a full brimmed hat capping off an ensemble that included a full-length grey trench coat and pink 'TDE' sweatshirt. Anything goes I guess when you're the 'Hood Pope'. Vic joined Schoolboy on the couch, rocking a matching sweatshirt to Sway's and giving the pink 'TDE' piece a run for its...money? Anyway, check out the full episode, streaming below courtesy of MTV.

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MTVU Woodie Awards

2014 MTV Woodie Award Nominees Announced

The MTV Woodies, the cable channel's reaction to indie music, announced the nominees for this year's award show, chosen by voters online yesterday. The nominees included a who's who of artists and acts that dominated the up and coming charts in 2013. In the hunt for the coveted "Woodie of the Year" are familiar names in Kanye West, Drake and Pharrell, as well as some more eclectic choices in Disclosure, Imagine Dragons, Lorde and Zedd. Chance The Rapper and director Austin Vesely are nominated for the "Best Video Woodie" for the "Everybody's Something" video. They will be up against some stiff competition from Disclosure ("Grab Her"), Passion Pit ("Carried Away"), Iggy Azalea ("Bounce") and Arcade Fire ("Afterlife").  Chance pops up again for his collaboration on "Life Round Here" with James Blake and Jhene Aiko and Mack Wilds round out a fairly solid list for "Breaking Woodie". Honestly, it's odd to find names like Beyonce and Jay Z on this list of nominees, which seem more tailored to Macklemore than the Grammys did a few weeks ago. Bob Dylan is nominated for a "Did It My Way Woodie". What's more 'My Way' than releasing an album (The Heist, Acid Rap) independently only to see it beat out the big guys? The line between independent and mainstream is being increasingly scrubbed away, and the 2014 edition of the Woodie Awards may be the best implication of that.

The MTV Woodies take place March 13 in Austin, TX, and will air March 16 on MTVU. Check out the full list of nominees below.

2014 mtvU Woodie Awards Nominees

Woodie of the Year:
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
Pharrell
Drake
Zedd
Disclosure

Breaking Woodie:
Bastille
Martin Garrix
The 1975
Jhene Aiko
Sam Smith
Mack Wilds

Best Video Woodie:
Disclosure, "Grab Her"
Passion Pit, "Carried Away"
Chance the Rapper, "Everybody's Something"
Iggy Azalea, "Bounce"
Arcade Fire, "Afterlife"

Did It My Way Woodie:
Beyoncé — Released her new, self-titled album without any prior promotion.
Kanye West — Created an interactive music video experience for Yeezus
Arcade Fire — Creatively utilized social media, street art and pop-up performances to launch the Reflektor album.
Childish Gambino — Hosted impromptu album listening sessions in public parks for Because the Internet.
Bob Dylan — Created a 16 channel interactive music video for "Like a Rolling Stone."

Performing Woodie:
Tyler the Creator
Ed Sheeran
Jay Z
Arcade Fire
The National
The XX

Best Collaboration Woodie:
A$AP Rocky and Skrillex — "Wild For the Night"
Avicii and Aloe Blacc — "Wake Me Up"
Just Blaze and Baauer featuring Jay Z — "Higher"
Kendrick Lamar and Imagine Dragons — "Radioactive (remix)"
Daft Punk and Pharrell — "Get Lucky"
James Blake and Chance the Rapper — "Life Round Here"

College Radio Woodie (Best College Radio Station):
Ball State University (WCRD)
Boston University (WTBU)
East Stroudsburg University (WESS)
Eastern Illinois University (WEIU)
Indiana University (WIUX)
Texas State University - San Marcos (KTSW)
University of California - Berkeley (KALX)
University of Illinois - Champaign Urbana (WPGU)
University of South Carolina (WUSC)
William Paterson University (WPSC)


[Video] Stussy x YO! MTV Raps Documentary + Collection

Streetwear brand Stussy and YO! MTV Raps recently linked up for a dope collaboration that included a t-shirt collection and a documentary on the show's impact throughout the rise of Hip Hop's mainstream profile during the late 80s and early 90s and how it pioneered fashion in the genre. Directed by Adam Weissman, the Stussy team included the likes of Alchemist, Bill Adler, Ed Lover, Evidence, MC Lyte, DJ Premier, Rakim, ?uestlove and more.

http://vimeo.com/71934383

 

 

http://vimeo.com/71973078