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Every year, the mtvU Woodie Awards have a tough mission to accomplish -- to be as fun to watch as they are to say. This year's show is set it hit it out of the park again thanks to the addition of the first-ever Woodie Awards Festival! Streaming live from famed indie music hub SXSW in Austin, Texas, the Woodie Awards Festival begins Thursday, March 15, and you can watch all of the action and live performances from the festival on woodies.mtvu.com.

The “2012 mtvU Woodie Awards Special” airs Sunday, March 18, when we'll be honoring the artists who truly infiltrated the music landscape over the past year. Nominees include Skrillex, Lana Del Rey, The Black Keys, Mac Miller, Foster The People, J. Cole, Frank Ocean, Calvin Harris, Wallpaper., Alabama Shakes, and Childish Gambino (also known as Donald Glover to you n00bs out there).

And listen up, dance music fans: this year marks the addition of the "EDM Effect" Woodie Award category, highlighting DJs and musicians who helped bring EDM to the mainstream in 2011. Nominees include Benni Benassi on Chris Brown's "Beautiful People," Martin Solveig featuring Kele on "Ready 2 Go," Avicii for Flo Rida's "Good Feeling," Flux Pavilion for The Throne's "Who Gon Stop Me," Steve Aoki and Laidback Luke on "Turbulence" and the dude who inspired us all to puke up our own ribbon rainbow, Calvin Harris for Rihanna's "We Found Love."

+ Vote now for the 2012 mtvU Woodie Awards, watch the "Woodie Awards Festival” Thursday, March 15 on woodies.mtvu.com, and don't miss the 2012 mtvU Woodie Awards on Sunday, March 18 on MTV and mtvU.

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Tags 2012 Woodie Awards, Alabama Shakes, Avicii, Benni Benassi, calvin harr, Childish Gambino, Chris Brown, Flo Rida, Flux Pavilion, Foster The People, Frank Ocean, J. Cole, Kele, Laidback Luke, Lana Del Rey, Mac Miller, Martin Solveig, mtvU-Woodie-Awards, Rihanna, skrillex, Steve Aoki, The Black Keys, Wallpaper, Watch The Throne

Buzzworthy has been down in Austin, Texas, all week for the South By Southwest festival and, as you probably noticed, the mtvU Woodie Awards.

It was an AWESOME show, and things got CRAY-CRAY up in here! We wish you could've been there, so we're bringing you the next best thing: PHOTO LOLZ! Needless to say, what happens in Austin stays in Austin (and therefore also on Buzzworthy... forever).

(Credit: Scott Gries/PictureGroup)

Pete Wentz knows that the bunny ears thing never gets old. Because it really doesn't. Oh wait. It's a peace sign? Whatever.

(Credit: Getty)

Eliza Doolittle salutes Ke$ha for the outfit, Pulp Fiction for the hand gesture.

(Credit: Scott Gries/PictureGroup)

Zoe Kravitz came to the Woodies. Nothing crazy there, necessarily. It's just crazy how EFFING HOT SHE IS. That is all.

(Credit: Scott Gries/PictureGroup)

Odd Future are new to the fame game. So, naturally, they showed up with their own dinnerware. Always come prepared, kids! Save Earl.

(Credit: Getty)

IRONY ALERT! One-half of The Cataracs wears corrective lenses.

(Credit: Getty)

Host Donald Glover just experienced his first SXSW run-in with Courtney Love.

(Credit: Getty)

Matt And Kim are open about armpits.

(Credit: Scott Gries/PictureGroup)

You must be this tall to ride Wiz Khalifa.

(Credit: Getty)

HALP ME, CHICKEN! Iz not done singing my songz!

Related Content 2011 mtvU Woodie Awards

Tags Donald Glover, Eliza Doolittle, Ke$ha, LOL, Matt And Kim, mtvU-Woodie-Awards, Odd Future, Pete Wentz, SXSW, Wiz Khalifa

Well THAT was interesting, right boys and girls?

No one really knew what to expect from freak-hop collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All's performance at the 2011 mtvU Woodie Awards. But this is what we got: tiny dudes in green ski masks, crowd-surfing, psychedelic rainbows, fireworks and gnomes, men (presumably) in plush fish and chicken costumes. And that was only in the first minute and thirty seconds.

Seconds later the room exploded as much of Odd Future's roster filled the Woodies stage and proceeded to basically terrify everyone in the house until the two lead MCs were yanked off stage by security guards. It's kind of hard to explain. It's actually making me uncomfortable sitting here trying to describe it to you. It was the stuff of nightmares. You should just... you should just watch it yourself.

+ Watch Odd Future's "Yonkers" and "Sandwitches" mtvU Woodie Awards performance.

Tags mtvU-Woodie-Awards, Odd Future, video

I'm just gonna come right out and say it. Two Door Cinema Club are adorable. Like, I'm sure that cuts into the Irish threesome's credibility as indie rockers or whatever, but guys -- I'm sorry -- you're just so cute. Those indie pop songs are just so catchy. I want to put you in my pocket. You and your brand new Breaking Woodie.

Here's how I think of things: In the family tree that was the 2011 mtvU Woodie Awards performance roster, Foo Fighters are the cooler big brother, Sleigh Bells are the edgy, art-school sister, Wiz Khalifa is your brother's cool friend you have a crush on, Odd Future are the weirdo cousin everyone's afraid to sit next to at Thanksgiving, and Two Door Cinema Club are the lovable little brother.

Except in real life, Two Door Cinema Club are a group of award-winning gentleman capable of live performances that can get the entire city of Austin, Texas, (and anyone else watching MTV, MTV2 or mtvU at midnight) bobbing their heads in unison.

That was the case when Two Door Cinema Club took the stage at the 2011 mtvU Woodie Awards and put up a fantastic live rendition of "What You Know," the lead single off the album Tourist History, which has a cat on its cover. Their version of "What You Know" at the Woodies evoked the same cheekiness as the song's video -- white stage, primary colors flashing -- minus the litany of girls in tiny cheerleader skirts. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

+ Watch Two Door Cinema Club's mtvU Woodie Awards performance of "What You Know."

Tags Foo Fighters, mtvU-Woodie-Awards, Odd Future, Sleigh Bells, Two Door Cinema Club, video, Wiz Khalifa

Wiz Khalifa kicked off his performance at the 2011 mtvU Woodie Awards spitting lines of his rolling papers-inspired jam "Roll Up" upstairs, surrounded by fans in the upper balcony of the Austin Music Hall. But you knew the Pittsburgh MC wasn't about to let his Woodies debut go down without breaking into his Woodie Of The Year-winning song and official anthem of his beloved Steelers, "Black And Yellow." (And unofficial winner of the MOST ADDICTIVE SONG EVER.)

With the audience bathed in yellow light, waving yellow terrible towels, Wiz Khalifa danced down the set's staircase onto the main stage, like he'd invented the concept of energy expressly for his Woodies performance. He also effectively claimed ownership to the colors black and yellow (if he hadn't already) and convinced us that anyone looking to overthrow the current king of hip-hop has their work cut out for them, because dude is holding court.

Wiz Khalifa effectively killed 'em dead at the Woodies, proving once and for all that nobody beats the Wiz.

+ Watch Wiz Khalifa's mtvU Woodie Awards performance of "Roll Up" and "Black And Yellow."

Tags mtvU-Woodie-Awards, video, Wiz Khalifa

It'd been a minute since Dave Grohl and his intrepid Foo Fighters exploded our faces off with a hard-rocking awards show performance. But thankfully, that minute has passed.

Joined by on-again Foo guitarist Pat Smear, the Foo Fighters opened the 2011 mtvU Woodie Awards with a blood-pressure-raising live performance of "Rope," the lead single off their upcoming seventh studio album Wasting Light.

Set on a garage-like stage back-lit with beaming rays of light -- and duh, a mini catwalk into the crowd -- it was the kind of performance that learned all the whippersnapper acts at South by Southwest a thing or two about rocking. Note to indie bands hoping to break out during their time in Austin: This is what longevity looks like.

The Foo Fighters are fresh off of last Thursday's "Rope" video premiere and the SXSW premiere of their new documentary, directed by Academy Award winner James Moll. Wasting Light is due out April 11.

+ Watch Foo Fighters mtvU Woodie Awards performance of "Rope."

Tags Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters, mtvU-Woodie-Awards, Pat Smear, video

If you've at all followed the career trajectory of noise-pop duo Sleigh Bells, you already know that a live performance by singer Alexis Krauss and guitarist Derek Miller can feel like a blow to the head in the most appealing way possible. And if you've heard any of Sleigh Bells' sweet-then-salty, loud-and-then-LOUDER songs on their first full-length album Treats, you know the tunes deserve -- make that DEMAND -- a performance of EPIC proportions. (We here at MTV found this out when we gave Sleigh Bells their very own Live In NYC show at Webster Hall.)

And that's precisely what they gave us at the 2011 mtvU Woodie Awards, a performance of epic proportions that only managed to get more epic. As if we weren't already scratching our heads over how just two people can make such a great big painfully pleasant noise, Sleigh Bells was joined on stage by the thunderous (and seriously sexy) sounds of Prairie View A&M's "Marching Storm," which launched their already out-of-this-world track "Riot Rhythm" into a whole new stratosphere of rock.

+ Watch Sleigh Bells' mtvU Woodie Awards performance of "Riot Rhythm."

Tags alexis krauss, mtvU-Woodie-Awards, Sleigh Bells, video

Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, AKA "OFWGKTA," AKA Odd Future, AKA the reason you spend all of your time on Tumblr, AKA the reason you may never sleep again, or, if you've watched Earl Sweatshirt's "Milkshake" video, the reason you'll probably never touch drugs again, is a young Cali collective of hip-hop heads, musicians, horrorcore enthusiasts, artists, skaters, social media addicts (lead Futurist Tyler, The Creator tweets endlessly), and the hottest s--- to hit the Internet since Chat-Roulette. Though they're probably a lot smarter than they want to let on, give them a mic (or, again, Twitter), and get ready to hear strings of random, unprovoked expletives so profoundly foul they would've turned George Carlin a healthy shade of crimson. That said, they've got their eyes on Grammy awards and their sights set on trampling Kanye West.

"I'm coming for Kanye West's head because he's my competition, Tyler said during his mtvU Woodies pre-show interview. He then partially backpedaled, changing course to praise Kanye. "I'm a big Kanye West fan, and I also compose music and I rap and I direct videos, and I don't want him to think he's the only person that could do that... My competition isn't other upcoming rappers and s---. It's him."

But let me backpedal too for a second. When I interviewed Odd Future, they were sprawled out on the floor of the Ballet Austin building (used as a holding area for the mtvU Woodie Awards). The dichotomy between lithe ballerinas in demure pink tights quietly plié-ing in the room next door to where Odd Future was busy punching each other couldn't have been more dramatic. Though lest you think they're all hard, Odd Future member Frank Ocean's recently released album, nostalgia, ULTRA is packed with poignant tributes to failed love. And Tyler clearly has moments of pure lucidity where he sounds like an articulate art school student, (which you could argue he is). But as soon as the cameras were rolling, it was open season on, well, anything they deemed a target, as the group spouted obscenities like they had a collective case of Tourette's Syndrome.

Odd Future, on the topic of Bruno Mars: "F--- him. He look like a dumb b----."

Odd Future, on Tyler Perry: "F--- Tyler Perry. He's brainwashing older black women to like his (explicative) movies."

And so on and so forth.

When I asked if there's any territory, any sacred ground Odd Future won't touch, they replied "Sudan." It was almost a serious, somber moment... until the group erupted into laughter.

And those are just a few examples of Odd Future's many disjointed, fleeting aspersions and invectives. In the world of Odd Future nothing's off limits because there are no limits. Tyler himself was quick to remind me, "I just say the first thing that comes to my head."

Read more...

Tags mtvU-Woodie-Awards, Odd Future, PUSH, Tyler The Creator, video

Wiz Khalifa's got a lot going for him. Cover of "Rolling Stone." Cover of "The Fader." His own Terrible Towel. At age 23, he's got more albums and mixtapes than you have casual Facebook friends, and one of the most unforgettable, most-remixed hip-hop songs of the first decade of the 2000s, with one of the most star-studded remixes on record. He's also got a Woodie Of The Year nomination, and he looks smokin' in a suit. Oh, and he's got a brand-new album, Rolling Papers, out March 29. That'd be more than enough for me to retire early on and live out the rest of my days playing Words With Friends. But despite his infectiously easy-going demeanor, Wiz Khalifa is a classic overachiever. Not content to dedicate his new album, Rolling Papers, to one of his favorite, oft-cited recreational pursuits, Wiz Khalifa's also got a special complement to his album: actual rolling papers. Not only can you LISTEN to Wiz Khalifa's Rolling Papers, but you can... experience them too. I know, because Wiz Khalifa -- who is approximately 17 million feet taller than I am -- gave me two packs. Jealous?

I caught up with Wiz Khalifa outside of his trailer during rehearsals for the 2011 Woodie Awards, where he'll perform live (at the Woodies, not outside of his trailer) and possibly go home with a Woodie Of The Year (Side note: as you can see, both of us found "Woodie Of The Yeart" funny. And actually, pretty much every artist I talked to about the Woodies couldn't help but make a phallic joke... and can you blame them?) It was there that Wiz Khalifa showed me his first tattoo, revealed the artist he still hasn't worked with yet (watch and find out), and -- ever the hustler -- gifted me with two packs of his special papers, which he dutifully, proudly presented like he was selling them by the millions on QVC. Given Wiz Khalifa's charm, talent, and success, if QVC traded in that sort of thing, they'd sell out in seconds.

Watch Wiz Khalifa's 2011 mtvU Woodies interview. And don't miss the The 2011 mtvU Woodie Awards air live on MTV, MTV2 and mtvU from South By Southwest in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday, March 16, at midnight (ET/PT).

Related Content Woodie Awards Photos, Woodie Awards Videos, More Woodie Awards

Tags Interviews, mtvU-Woodie-Awards, PUSH, video, Wiz Khalifa

As host of the 2011 mtvU Woodie Awards, Donald Glover's obviously gonna be all over the stage, but I spent some time with him offstage at Woodies rehearsals -- specifically outside the Austin Music Hall. Even more specifically, on top of the Foo Fighters' gear. (Hopefully they didn't mind but that's what you get when you leave your stuff unattended.)

Anyway, Donald Glover told me all about the crunchy, earthy stuff he has to eat in his dressing room, he came up with some names for Mariah Carey's babies, and he called me out for not remembering the name of the twins in The Royal Tenenbaums. (It's like I'M SORRY, I've only seen it once, okay? God. Stop judging.) He also shared his favorite songs to karaoke to, his favorite song to cry to (it's Ernie from Sesame Street singing a song about interplanetary existential dread), and things that sometimes happen in cabs. And in case you're wondering, yes, his mom's heard even his NSFW-est tracks on his Childish Gambino EP, and she's cool with it.

Watch my so-backstage-it's-completely-off-the-stage interview with mtvU Woodies Award host Donald Glover. And, for Twitter LOLs, follow him at @donaldglover.

UPDATE: Watch Donald Glover open the Woodies with Childish Gambino's new song, "Girl Talk," and find out more about the song.

Related Content Woodie Awards Photos, Woodie Awards Videos, More Woodie Awards

Tags Donald Glover, mtvU-Woodie-Awards, video