Flo Rida Weighs In on his Nomination at the 2009 MTV VMAs

New York, NY – I think it’s safe to say that Flo Rida has been up on his game as of late, especially after the release of ‘R.O.O.T.S.’ several months back. The man sold over 700,000 digital downloads of ‘Right Round’ in one week’s time and continues to dominate the charts with every other single he releases; its official the fans can’t get enough of Flo Rida.

Last year, Flo was nominated at the VMAs under the category ‘Best Hip-Hop Video’ with ‘Low.’ This year, he will be back in the building once again this time taking his ‘Right Round’ video, nominated in the same category as last year, up against heavy hitters that include: Jay-Z’s D.O.A. (Death of Autotune), Kanye West’s ‘Love Lockdown,’ Eminem’s ‘We Made You,’ and Asher Roth’s ‘I Love College.’ With the heavyweight rivals he is up against this, you would assume that Flo would have a slight bit of worry, well according to the Miami MC; he’s actually taking everything in stride. He recently spoke with MTV News about the upcoming award show and weighed in on his nomination amongst his rivals.

These were his comments:

“I look forward to going [to the VMAs] and just enjoying myself. It means a lot to me. I can recall being in Las Vegas [where he once lived] and watching the music awards [in Miami] and seeing Jay-Z up for an award, and now here I am in the same category. I definitely look up to these guys. And even the newcomers you can learn from.”

The video was directed by R. Malcolm Jones and it depicts Flo being digitally transported from different clubs all over the world. The pivotally intensive record samples 80’s band Dead or Alive’s hit ‘You Spin Me Round.’ It has become Flo’s second blockbuster hit since 2008’s Low that featured vocalist T-Pain.

At press time, the 2009 MTV Awards has been scheduled to air on Sunday, September 13 at 9pm ET. Flo is set to be in concert in this year’s Summer Fest in Miami on August 22 at the American Airlines Arena alongside heavyweights like Akon, Plies, T-Pain, and Keri Hilson.

Flo has come a long way with his music to becoming that major international status that every artist dreams of. 24hourhiphop.com would like to extend our congratulations to Flo Rida for being nominated a second time in a row on the VMAs. We’ll be checking for you at the Summer Fest in the upcoming weeks. Be on the lookout for Flo performing at this year’s Miss Universe pageant as well.

Drake Discusses On-Stage Collapse

New York, NY – It has been weeks since Drake had to undergo knee surgery and he is still every bit in recovery from that. The Toronto MC was at the highlight of his music career and at the time he wasn’t going to allow some thrown knee ligaments to keep him down, he was going to do what he did best, perform for his fans. Apparently days before the BET Awards in June, Drake injured himself while playing basketball. That injury, however, wasn’t going to stop him from headlining at the awards, nor keep him from his commitment to tour with Young Money on their America’s Most Wanted Music. He went forth continued on with his music regardless of the amount of pain he was in.

Not even five dates into his first major tour; the Philadelphia show stopped him for good. It was during the performance of his hit ‘Best I Ever Had’ when he re-injured his knee when he ran across the stage. He collapsed from all the pain that adhered directly to his knee and had to be carried off stage. The injury was quite severe as he tore his ACL, MCL, and MCL. A video clip of his fall later surfaced on the net that same night and put a lot of his fans in shock and worry. Drake recently spoke to MTV News about the collapse and explained what the video didn’t show.

These were his comments:

“What the footage doesn’t show is that I actually came out of the sky that night. I was 20 feet in the air on a little platform. Philadelphia was the only sold-out show on the tour — 25,000 people. And before they see me, I see them for about five seconds. I was staring out into the crowd and literally … when I landed on that platform, I blacked out and really forgot I was injured. I was just so full of adrenaline, so happy to be there, it kind of set in for me. I remember on the ‘I Am Music’ tour, the reaction was great. But these were my songs. These are songs people know and love and we really made this happen in a short time. I was just enjoying myself. I had the mic and I was really going. And when ‘Best I Ever Had’ came on, I felt like dancing. It was a great moment. I wanted to run across stage, I wanted to jump into the crowd.”

His knee gave out halting him from continuing the show, killing his excitement altogether. Once that video clip surfaced on the net, Drake states that many of his friends texted him telling him to stay off the leg. Those friends even included NBA stars such as: Chris Paul and LeBron James. Jamie Foxx even spoke to him personally, one on one, about minding his well-being.

At press time, Drake is in the process completing tracks for his upcoming debut, while back in Toronto. His doctors have told him to stay off his feet as much as possible, not to put pressure on his knee. While he is completely off the tour with Young Money, that didn’t stop him from making one last cameo appearance when tour stopped in his hometown. He walked on stage with a cane to perform his other hit, ‘Successful.’

I can understand his dedication to music, especially when his songs just recently became hits, but I think he’s pushing himself a little bit too hard. Hopefully when his debut officially drops, he’ll be back on his feet ready to hit the stage. And he also needs to stop playing ball like he’s in the damn NBA; how the hell do you tear ligaments in your knee playing regular ball, unless you dunking kind of hard there? Either way, he needs to stay in the studio and off his feet so he can get back to the music.

Mary J. Blige to be Guest-Judge on American Idol

New York, NY – American Idol has been covering major headlines in the media as of late, especially after the sudden departure of original judge Paula Abdul. Lately, to fill the vacant seat that Abdul left open, the network had scheduled special guest-judges to appear alongside that of Kara DioGuardi, Randy Jackson, and Simon Cowell. So far, Fox announced Victoria ‘Posh Spice’ Beckham and Katy Perry to fill the seat during auditions for this season. Now the most recent to be added to that list has been the Queen of R&B/Soul herself, Mary J. Blige.

According to People.com, the Grammy-award winning R&B starlet has signed on and will be a guest-judge when the American Idol team heads to Atlanta. Beckham’s last day at judging was on Friday when the team wrapped up in Boston. Sources close to Beckham told People.com that the former Spice Girl fit good chemistry with the other judges.

This was what one of the sources told People:

“The judges and production team have been having a lot of fun with Victoria. She’s had a great response so far, and has been really warm with the contestants.”

Days before her guest-judging would begin, Beckham spoke Ryan Seacrest about her approach into American Idol and how she plans to decipher over everything that’s brought to the table. These were her comments:

“I want to be nice to people. I know how it feels to stand there and be judged, and how it can feel when nerves get the better of you. I don’t want to shatter anybody’s dream, but at the same time, there’s nothing wrong with constructive criticism.”

At press time, Fox Entertainment continues their search in finding a suitable replacement to fill the seat that Paula Abdul left suddenly vacant. The network has plans on looking for someone that mesh well with the other three judges as well as give the show a ‘different dynamic.’

Keep posted to 24hourhiphop.com for updated news as Fox continues their search for the new American Idol judge.

Now this is news, the Queen is going to be a guest-judge on the longest and hottest running show on network television, this I can’t wait to see. Now I know her and Simon are going to bump heads, it might even be quite humorous, we’ll just have to wait and see. If you ask me, she needs to be the one who fill Paula’s vacant seat permanently, that would really be something. Fox needs to consider that for a second.