Search Posts

Does Kanye West's "Heartless" emit "cover me!" pheromones? There's Idol winner Kris Allen's acoustic version that, shall we say?, sealed his victory; there's the Lady GaGa live concert cover, along with Ace Hood's "Ruthless" take on the number... The "Heartless" melody and lyrics must strike fellow musicians as somewhat of a non-fit in the dreary, AutoTuned oeuvre that was 808s and Heartbreak, begging for modification. Or else everyone just can't get enough of that effing song.

I'll be the first to say, "Heartless" lends itself to several genres; and The Fray's latest cover -- as an aching, earnest pop-rock ballad -- takes on a solid life of its own. The Fray first covered "Heartless" at Live Lounge,  which begat other fantastic covers, such as Leona Lewis' cover of  Snow Patrol's "Run" (get out the tissues and download that now), but has since released a proper single and music video.

As you might expect, the music video is an extremely bleak and lonely affair: a lovesick schoolboy doodles in his math notebook, and a forsaken, bleeding heart trudges in a defeated journey to nowhere, which instantly recalls Gnarls Barkley's video for "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" as well as Spoon's "Everything Hits At Once" video.

I didn't quite expect this song to work with kids as subjects, but the solitary, cerebral aspect of doodling is somehow painfully sad here - and the video becomes lovely, if a bit disturbing, when doodles morph into elaborate and nightmarish theme-park monsters...

And by the way, Kanye approves. Phew.

Tags , , , , , , ,

Notebooks out, ladies, because Florida rapper Ace Hood's "The 5" interview is less a Fun Facts Fest, and more a road map to Ace Hood's bedroom. The overall takeaway: Go to Costco and stock up on M&Ms, practice your Madden skills, and remember... well, Ace makes his stance on hats pretty clear.

Ace Hood also discusses his second LP, Ruthless -- the first Ruthless single, "Overtime," is a Rocky-style pump-up jam thanks to that high-energy, epic refrain with Akon and T-Pain, as well as an autobiographical account of a high-school-era Ace. Filmed at Chaminade-Madonna College Prep (which is a SERIOUS name, especially coming from someone who went to boring-ass Benjamin Franklin High) -- the video chronicles aspiring teens and gives a personal nods to high school football, as Ace planned to go pro before an injury altered his path. But as the video illustrates, Ace Hood later visited a Florida radio station and handed over his demo to DJ Khaled, which led to a deal with Khaled's music group, and later with Def Jam.

But back to the topic at hand -- see what Pampers, graphic design, and Jazmine Sullivan have to do with Ace Hood, as he leaves an M&M trail to his bedroom in this brand-new interview.

Tags , , , , ,

It's not football season, but Ace Hood's ready for some football, and let me tell you, people, "Overtime"'s not just about football. That's just a metaphor. A metaphor for total effing balls-to-the-wall hustling and not just sitting around on your ass and expecting those paper stacks to walk their way into your bank account while you sit around and play Xbox. (Unless you're already famous, in which case, you can totally sit around and play XBox while you accumulate bills.)

"Overtime" chronicles the unbridled, unfettered, hustle-'til-it-hurts grind and determination it takes to make the team -- whether it's JV or the pros. And if you're familiar with Ace Hood's own story, then you know that injury kept him from going pro, and fearless hustle got his music into DJ Khaled's hands. And the rest is history -- and the reason you're watching Ace Hood's latest video, starring Akon, a hatless T-Pain, and DJ Khaled. Directed by Gil Green (Lil Wayne's "Lollipop," Akon's "Beautiful" video), "Overtime" was shot at Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory School in Hollywood, Florida and features some of the school's actual football players in the video.

Watch it. Do work.

Tags , , ,

Apparently no one. At least not for $5,000 a pop. If we hadn't been rifling through the dusty digital closet that is eBay while we were supposed to be working, we may have never known that The Cos is auctioning off his Coogi sweaters -- those unforgettably blinding sweaters that made the curmudgeonly Dr. Huxtable all the more huggable on The Cosby Show. While the proceeds go to charity, looks like Cliff's having a tough time finding someone attached enough to the show to cough up $5,000 for the opening bid. Now that asymmetrical "Gordon Gatrelle" designer knockoff Denise made for Theo? That's another story entirely.

Anyway, Dr. Cosby's sweaters got us remembering Coogi and more VIP sweaters, which brings us to...

+ Whiz kid producer Boom Bip, who's got an entire song -- appropriately entitled, "Coogi Sweater" -- devoted to Coogis. (You'll like his stuff if you're into Chromeo, Barcelona and/or Crystal Castles.)

+ Ace Hood and T-Pain's "Cash Flow" video; you can spot a she-Coogi toward the end, when Rick Ross slays while wearing that nearly life-sized gold medallion of his own head.

+ The awesome Leslie Hall has built an entire career devoted to bad sweaters, gold pants and other fashion don'ts.

+ They're probably not Coogi, but a few of the members of New Edition rock some intense knitwear in "Mr. Telephone Man"

+ And, while it's definitely not about a Coogi, we'd be fools not to revisit Weezer's timeless "Undone (The Sweater Song)" video. Plus: watch Weezer's Artist of the Week videos here.

+ Finally: an entire website devoted to Coogi. Thank God.

Tags , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

About Us

  1. Consummate MTV music fans obsessively covering pop music, pop videos, pop stars, and pop culture from MTV headquarters in New York. Plus, trends, LOLs and stuff we love.

    Read more about MTV Buzzworthy.

    Email us: buzzworthy@mtv.com

    Follow us on Twitter: @MTVBuzzworthy

    Managing Editor
    Tamar Anitai

    Associate Editor
    Nicole James

    Contributors
    Liz Barker
    Byron Flitsch
    David Greenwald
    Sam Lansky
    Althea Legaspi
    Amber Katz
    Jenna Hally Rubenstein
    Bradley Stern

SPONSORS
AD:
©2012 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. MTV and all related titles and logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.