The top five will be revealed on October 24 on MTV2.
By MTV News Staff

Photo: MTV News

It’s about to go down, basement! The MTV News Hip-Hop Brain Trust is back at the roundtable to discuss the most authentic, most controversial and most debated list in the music industry today: the Hottest MCs in the Game right now. Will Jay-Z retain his crown? Could a young upstart like Drake snatch it from him?

We’ll find out soon, as the 2010 Hottest MCs edition begins to roll out on Monday, October 18, on MTVNews.com and MTV’s RapFix blog leading up to the big reveal on Sunday, October 24, on MTV2.

The criteria for all the MCs who actively released music in the past year is the same as in 2009: artistic execution (lyrical ability, flow), commercial success (charting hits, radio spins, album sales), cultural impact (business acumen, putting on other big artists), digital metrics, buzz and other intangibles.

The 10th hottest MC will be revealed on MTVNews.com on October 18, and numbers nine through six will be announced at the rate of one per day through Friday. But you’ll have to wait until October 24 to find out the top five.

Then, tune in to watch MTV staffers Sway Calloway (moderator), Shaheem Reid (MTV News) Rahman Dukes (MTV News), Jayson Rodriguez (MTV News), Steven Roberts (MTV News), Sean Lee (MTV News), Hillary Crosley (RapFix), Tuma Basa (MTV Jams), Sheila Grullon (MTV Jams) and Yomi Desalu (mtvU) engage in the debate until the Hottest MC of 2010 emerges from the pack.

Do you think Eminem’s chart-toppers make him the hottest? Is it Nick Minaj’s flare for stealing cameo spots that makes her #1? Or will Waka Flocka Flame’s stronghold on the streets power him to the top?

Do past champions Lil Wayne (2007), Kanye West (2008) and Jay-Z (2009) have what it takes to score a second anointment as the Hottest MC?

Send tweets to @MTVNews, @MTVRapFix and @RealSway with the hashtag #hottestmcs to join the conversation. Or upload your choices to Your.MTV.com to have your voice heard on MTV News’ hip-hop blog, RapFix. Remember not to use curses, be respectful of every person’s opinion and, most important, passionately detail your case. (Note: Audience opinion is not a factor in the Hottest MCs ranking, but we still want to know what you think!)

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Film scoots past ‘Life as We Know It’ for box-office win.

Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield in “The Social Network”

Photo: Sony Pictures

Despite a bunch of fresh choices in theaters “The Social Network” remained a fan favorite at the box office this weekend. None of the new films were able to topple director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin’s portrait of the rise of Facebook, which raked in $15.5 million in theaters over the weekend. The film, which boasts performances from Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake as tech savants turned budding billionaires, opened at #1 last week and has a total estimated haul of $46 million.

Josh Duhamel and Katherine Heigl’s date-night flick “Life as We Know It,” was hot on the heels of “Network.” The movie, which features the two stars grappling with the responsibilities of rearing their late friend’s child, took in roughly $14.6 million during its debut weekend on screens.

The new Disney horserace movie “Secretariat,” held its third-place slot from Friday. The film, which is based on the true story of the 1973 Triple Crown-winning thoroughbred and features Diane Liane and John Malkovich, opened with $12.6 million in ticket sales.

The animated flick “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” didn’t crack the top five on Friday but finished out the weekend in fourth place. The GC fantasy film scored an estimated $7 million in theaters. The figure bumps the movie’s total gross to roughly $39 million.

Horror filmmaker Wes Craven’s newest knee-knocker “My Soul to Take,” took fifth place in the weekend box-office race. Craven’s 3-D enhanced thriller was just behind “Ga’Hoole” with approximately $6.9 million.

Check out everything we’ve got on “The Social Network,” “Life as We Know It” and “Secretariat.”

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Bruno Mars brings throwback style to his performances of ‘Just the Way You Are’ and ‘Grenade.’
By Mawuse Ziegbe

Jane Lynch performs on “SNL” Oct. 9

Photo: NBC

If your beef with “Glee” is that pushy cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester, played by Jane Lynch, doesn’t show off her pipes enough, then the most recent episode of “Saturday Night Live” is right up your alley.

Lynch, who reliably turns in a menacing yet hilarious performance every week as “Glee” ‘s resident tracksuit-clad villain, displayed her vocal abilities as host of “SNL,” and even came up with her own theme song for the Fox musical hit. Taking the stage in an asymmetrical black suit, Lynch used her opening monologue to present fans with a number she that joked was penned after downing copious amounts of tequila and began with, ” ‘Glee’ is a show about Sue Sylvester/ Sue Sylvester is the star of ‘Glee.’/ Yes, there are few other characters/ But Sue is the one you want to see.” Accompanied by ‘SNL’ castmember Fred Armisen on guitar, Lynch conceded that the lyrics sounded “conceited” but added, “Blame my co-writer Jose Cuervo.”

After kicking off the night with the faux “Glee” theme song, Lynch brought her easy humor to a variety of sketches. In a digital short, she played a creepy, distracted therapist who ends up naked in front of her client, played by Andy Samberg. She also teamed up with Samberg for “The New Boyfriend Show,” as a mom who gets around and lets her son interview her conquests. She did the embarrassing-mom thing again in a commercial for a mother-friendly Facebook filter that includes nifty features such as turning pictures of a kid toking some weed into a photo of a son tooting the saxophone.

The openly-gay actress also connected with Kristen Wiig’s interpretation of lesbian money guru Suze Orman as Roma, a woman Wiig described — with a wink — as her “very first roommate.” When Lynch’s character, Roma, insists she’s straight, Wiig counters with, “Have you told that to your haircut and your Crocs?” Lynch also showed off her vocal skills by belting an extended opening theme song for NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” that included a recipe for nachos and ran so long that Lynch eventually rattled off the latest score for the game.

While Lynch showed fans her musical side throughout her host stint, the guest who was booked to bring some tunes, Bruno Mars, also added some retro style to his “SNL” appearance. Donning a blue jacket, skinny tie and pompadour, Mars first rocked his feel-good #1 hit “Just the Way You Are,” backed by band that included a string section and a tambourine-thumping backup singer. When Mars returned to the stage, he picked up a guitar and plucked a mellowed-out version of his chorus for B.o.B’s smash “Nothin’ On You.” The singer then told the crowd, “That was then, this is now,” and put down the guitar as he launched into “Grenade.” Mars peppered the performance with hip-swaying moves Elvis would be proud of and wrapped up the set in classic rock-star style with an enthusiastic jump in the air.

What did you think of Jane Lynch and Bruno Mars on “SNL”? Sound off in the comments!

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‘Ye recruits CRS members for G.O.O.D. Friday song.
By Mawuse Ziegbe

Kanye West

Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Kanye West’s recent jaunt to didn’t stop the MC from dropping his latest G.O.O.D Friday track right on time. Hours after the superstar lyricist tweeted about heading to Asia, he released a collaboration featuring the members of Child Rebel Soldier supergroup, Pharrell and Lupe Fiasco.

Compared with many of West’s weekend-kickoff offerings, the jangly, dancefloor-ready number boasts a more celebratory vibe. About three seconds into the track, Pharrell starts things off with an amped delivery, dropping lines like “I’m on some BBC bape sh–/I’m on some cake sh–/In the kitchen with the heat making beats in my apron.” The N.E.R.D. frontman paints more images of the glossy high-life with lyrics such as, “My flow interrupts your homeostasis/I Rolls Royce it on a regular basis.”

Fresh from a newly hammered out deal with Atlantic Records, Lupe appears to reference the drama in his verse. “F— the property or give me my props properly/high off life this high technology, DeVry,” the Chicago MC spits. “My policy’s not to be dishonestly deprived.”

Kanye closes out the track pumping the return of CRS, which has been in the works for a while. Yeezy starts with “Mr. West turn that new child rebel/loud as a badass child level,” and follows up with bars such as “brand new Ferraris, I gotta make the donuts/CRS is like a hip-hop Christmas bonus.”

The track is the latest offering from the group, which materialized when the trio collaborated on a cut from one of Lupe’s mixtapes.

“Pharrell came up with the idea — ‘Let’s do a group, Child Rebel Soldiers,’ ” Lupe told MTV News in 2008. “So I did a song. Took Thom Yorke’s ‘Eraser,’ cut it up, put ‘Us Placers’ on it, because I was going to do a mixtape called Us Placers and remake Thom Yorke’s album [The Eraser] and Radiohead’s stuff. I sent the record out, and it was initially supposed to have Kanye, and I wanted [British artist] the Streets. The Streets, I got no response. He asked me to do the song for one of his artists. Then Kanye jumped on it and was like, ‘I’m going to send it to P.’ Then P sent it back, and it was like, ‘This is the first song right here. Let’s do it.’ That was, like, a year and a half ago, and the whole time we’ve been figuring out what to do.”

What do you think of Kanye West, Pharrell and Lupe Fiasco’s “Don’t Stop”? Sound off in the comments!

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‘I think you’re going to see Mugatu,’ movie’s co-writer Justin Theroux tells us at New York Comic-Con.
By Eric Ditzian

Justin Theroux

Photo: MTV News

has taken its time sashaying down the development runway, but have no fear: Everyone’s favorite vapid supermodel is on track to arrive in theaters, reportedly in 2012. Justin Theroux, who’s co-writing the script with Ben Stiller, assured us of that fact when he stopped by the MTV News skybox at New York Comic-Con on Saturday (October 9).

The script is essentially done, he revealed, and there are roles for both Will Ferrell and Jonah Hill.

“The script is in good shape right now,” Theroux told us while promoting “Your Highness.” “I’m feeling very optimistic about it. We’re doing a few little tweaks before we submit it, but I’m very hopeful that I’m going to be working on that soon.”

Theroux said he’s still on track to direct the movie, but declined to dish many details about the plot. “It’s too funny – it’ll blow your mind,” the writer/director said, though he did share the plot’s starting point, in which Stiller’s Derek Zoolander and Owen Wilson’s Hansel find themselves pushing 40 and no longer the white-hot center of the fashion world.

“[W]e start off with them in a pretty bad place,” he said. “They’re about to ring 40′s bell. They have to claw their way back into the fashion industry in some way or another.”

As for the villains in the sequel, Theroux said we should expect Ferrell to reprise his role as Mugatu and for Hill to pop up as a brand-new character. “Fingers crossed, anything is possible in Hollywood, but I think you’re going to see Mugatu. We are planning on seeing Mugatoo,” he told us. “There are a couple new villains that step onto the stage, which we are all very happy about. And yes, Jonah is the inspiration for one of them.”

Check out everything we’ve got on “Your Highness.”

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more – updated around the clock – visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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