JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE

Justin – I mean, you know is the thing about Michael is the memories, I’m lucky enough to have memories actually physically with him on stage and off. But I think, you know, it’s a testament to how big of a deal it is obviously because, you know, he’s created so many cultural photos in peoples minds with his music, that, he really was and always will be the King of Pop. I mean he’s, to create things that he created with his music it’s really untouchable. It really is untouchable. He opened the minds of the world and to be able to do that through one piece, one medium of art is a feat not accomplished by many people maybe only a handful of people. Even in that handful of people I don’t think anyone ever did it like him. No one presented a song on stage like Michael. There are many songs that have been written since the beginning of time that are timeless, but there aren’t as many performances that are timeless and you know I would say of the top ten of those performances, probably seven or eight of them go to Michael Jackson. I think it’s a testament to him as an artist and more so as a performer and someone who understood through the medium of art that he was gifted, that he could change the world. And he really did. He opened the minds of people about music, he opened the minds of people about culture. Even if it was only this much in your conscience, he helped with segregation. And his music did that and not a lot of people can say that. Elvis did that. But I don’t know man, Michael. Michael was the baddest.

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MTV BASE ON AIR TALENT KOJO
Kojo: My favourite Michael Jackson video without thinking about it has to be Liberian Girl.

Kojo: My favourite Michael Jackson video is Liberian Girl and the reason is because there were so many celebs from all parts of Hollywood and people that you grew up on. Some people you didn’t even know, you might have just known their faces and everyone’s like where’s Michael in this video. I remember the first time I saw it, I was like where’s Michael Jackson in this video and then you see him you know directing and stuff like that you know what I mean so yeah that was definitely my favourite Michael Jackson video.

Kojo: I don’t think there is a dance bigger than the moonwalk because the moonwalk we’re still talking about it right now you know what I mean. I don’t think we’ll be talking about Stanky leg next week. Er so yeah nah I don’t think there is.

Kojo: I don’t think that there is a greater dance than the moonwalk because you know we’re still talking about it right now you know. We aint gonna be talking about the Soldier Boy or the Stanky Leg. We might not even be talking about those dances tomorrow. I remember when I was young and I first saw the Moonwalk, trying to do that on concrete in your Gola’s weren’t really the lick, you know what I mean plus you had shin pads on as well, I mean well we did in my school but it was all crazy you know what I mean but Moonwalk legendary, definitely.

Kojo: The impact that Michael Jackson had on popular culture for me was amazing. I think he’s more of a creature that no one understands. You know sometimes you know for someone to be so nice and wanting to be so nice sometimes to people it’s weird do you know what I mean and because we know this world aint as nice as he made it seem in his world people saw him as a freak but I think he is just so iconic for so many reasons and going through, I don’t think there’s anybody on this planet that’s been through what he’s been through. He’s literally been through everyone’s drama in one body do you know what I mean so I will always respect him for that.

Kojo: The first time I saw the thriller video I was scared as hell. I was talking about this the other day. I was young, I must have been like 5,6,7 maybe and I thought, I didn’t know it was a music video back then. I just thought it was a film. All I remember was (laughs the way it is in thriller video), that scared me but the girl in there was kris though I remember that part.

Kojo:The first time I saw the thriller video I actually didn’t know it was a music video. I think I must have been between 5 and 7 and I thought it was a horror movie and short as it was that scared me and it really, I remember when it came on I used to walk out the front rooms. I didn’t want to watch it but the girl was kris and the only thing that I do remember was (impersonates Michael Jackson) I’m not like other guys (impersonates laugh in thriller video) that laugh still sticks with me till today man so I was scared of that video, no long ting.

Kojo: My memories of the Jackson 5 really, I mean I think they were obviously a little bit more before my time but I enjoyed them do you know what I mean. I think that’s the only group could be so many different sizes (laughs) and actually still work. You know people talk about Javine ever being in Girls Aloud and how ridiculous that would have looked but I think the Jacksons pulled it off you know what I mean. You had one 2 foot, one was 8 foot, they was all over the place you know what I mean but I think it was more the joy and you know learning the story of the Jackson 5 to know that what was going on behind the scenes and of the talent that they showed in front of the scenes I think was you know shows testimony to the family and them as individuals you know what I mean. Apart from Michael Jackson them as individuals you have to respect all of them.

Kojo: The legacy of Michael Jackson for me will be an innovator, somebody that stayed true to himself and the master of a generation. I think you know through his generation there has been so many amazing people. I don’t think anyone will be as iconic through that generation so I think that legacy that he will leave will be with you know, that’s a whole like, for me that’s like nearly 45 years of being in the business and you have to respect that.

Kojo: Michael Jackson means everything to me because for one person to go through so much as an individual and take on so much pressures from the public and still be positive is a massive to me an influence you know in terms of me being an artist and what I’m trying to do and it shows that you know that we all go through stuff and we’re all dealt a certain set of cards in life and it’s what we choose to do with those cards and I think he was positive you know and tried to motivate others and wanted to make a better world and that’s the thing I think I’ll get most from Michael Jackson. He wanted to make a better world, his songs, even though he’s passed away his songs are still out there and you know people, it’s still positive and wanting people to come together and so forth so you know he only wanted good things for this world and I think that’s what he means to me.

Kojo: When a Michael Jackson video came out it was more of a you know what dance move is he gonna create now? How much fun is he gonna have? You know I think nowadays when we are watching a lot of videos and the people behind the artists is what we kind of look forward to. We always focus on what Michael is doing because whatever he was doing was what you was dropping at the club that weekend you know what I mean. You wanted to be hitting that club with that fun, that smile that he had and that enthusiasm to have a good time. He always had a good time in his videos whether it was a fast song, whether it was a slow song and I think that’s what transcended to the public in terms of you know the image he was trying to portray through his work. A Michael Jackson video can be compared to no other video, very original and I don’t think anyone will be able to be as unique in the unique selling point in terms of videos. A Michael Jackson video is just legendary. I’m sad that I never actually got to see him perform live you know what I mean because that would have been bringing you know what I’ve seen on tv to actually seeing him and doing it live and you know if you watch any Micahel Jackson video you know that video alone will sell out any arena as it obviously prove to be the case but sadly missed definitely.
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UK RAPPER SWAY
Sway: I think that Michael Jackson’s legacy will last forever. If you look at the likes of the pop markets today in general everybody’s influenced by Michael Jackson from the way they move, from the way they sing, from the way they dance. You’ve got Usher, Justin Timberlake, even his own sister Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, Neeyo, Akon, the list goes on. I think you can’t find an artist out there that doesn’t owe to Michael Jackson.

Sway: I think in terms of popular culture as a whole Michael Jackson is the most iconic figure in the world you know what I mean. He gave his life to the people. You know like there’s from the age of 5 he’s never ever ever taken a break, he’s never ever ever left the camera sight and you know there’s a lot of people that try for that and do negative things to get that publicity but that publicity just comes natural to Michael because people genuinely want to know what’s going on in his life

Sway: I’d say the reason why Michael Jackson’s videos are so entertaining is because he makes a big deal out of them, he makes them a film, he makes them an epic, when he shoots a music video it’s not just a white background with cars and ladies or something. Michael does it big and maybe because he has the budget to do it big, I’d like to do it that big eventually and I get big budgets so I’ll do it as big as Michael hopefully.

Sway: My favourite Michael Jackson video of all time would have to be Bad because you know like Michael had a jerry curl and he’s the only person in the world with a jerry curl that could convince you that he’s actually bad and that he’s actually a criminal. I think he done that pretty well.

Sway: In terms of Michael Jackson’s song writing skills I just assumed he wrote most of the stuff . I don’t know exactly what songs he did write to what he didn’t but it’s pretty obvious he writes most of his stuff cos he’s got a style that is so unique and you know sometimes you know he’s so unique and caught up in the music you don’t understand what he’s saying. For example on moonwalker he’s saying Annie are you ok. I thought he was saying something else for years. It was only 2 years ago I realised he was talking about the girl Annie in the Moonwalk.

Sway: My earliest memory of Michael Jackson would have to be when I got the first album ever which was Thriller for my fifth birthday and I remember wanting to get a tiger and have a white jacket. I got the white jacket now I just need the tiger and I’m good.

Sway: When I first watched the thriller video I couldn’t watch it the whole way through cos I was scared obviously. I was just a kid, I was a baby you know what I mean but after a while you watch a bit more, and a bit more and a bit more and I started to think this is not so scary after all you know what I mean. Thriller was really good man: it’s a horror film, a music video, a feature film, everything all in one man and it’s never been done since.

Sway: Is there a more iconic dance than the moonwalk? I think the migraine skank is getting up there but it still can’t compare to the moonwalk but Migraine Skank, Moonwalk, I don’t know.

Sway: The Jackson 5 is all about unity. When you look at em you know what I mean, brothers who have grown up, that are talented together, that work together for a common cause and I think you know they say that Joe Jackson their father was rough on them. At the end of the day look at the family now, of course they’ve gone through their trials and tribulations but every family does but this family did with a lot of money.

Sway: Me personally Michael Jackson is the biggest thing that ever happened in music you know what I mean. I wrote a tribute. Just a small tribute that I’ve thrown online which went crazy like over 40,000 downloads in like 18 hours and it was called not just the king of pop, the king fullstop.

Sway: Michael Jackson was the biggest thing to ever happen in music as far as I’m concerned. I even wrote a tribute, a short tribute that I threw up online and like within like 18 hours it got like 40,000 downloads. It’s more than I’ve ever had on my own songs.

Sway: Michael Jackson was the biggest thing in music, in general for me, period you know what I mean . I did a tribute, a little tribute that I just threw up online and it got like 40,000 hits in like 18 hours and that just shows you know what I mean like and I called it not just the King of pop, the King fullstop.

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BASHY

Bashy: I think Michael Jackson’s legacy is gonna last like forever. He’s gonna be one of those artists that you know generation after generation we’re gonna have to look back and like see one of the great people whose done it before. I think he obviously sits in the same vain as like Elvis, Bob Marley, like legends that will just never die. Like people make up rumours, like are they still alive and these like sort of things will come up because no one will want to let go cos he such a talented individual and like they hardly come along

Bashy: I just think that like Michael’s influence over culture has just been amazing just from everything. From like the videos, to fashion which people might not think but it’s like even people wearing one glove, like a lot of rude boys might be wearing one leather glove but really Michael Jackson did it ages ago and he had a glittery one so just like everything that he’s done man like dancing, movies, like tracks, like songs, people always sample or they reference Michael Jackson. Like you can go to the most remote part in the world where they probably don’t even have tv or radio and you tell them about Michael Jackson and they’ll know about Michael Jackson

Bashy: I think Michael’s videos were so entertaining cos like if you even look now I think there’s just like a lack of creativity in the videos like if you just look at anything from thriller to is it moonwalker. Just like all his videos, it’s like they’ve got a story, like he’s dancing, he’s singing, it’s like a massive performance. Some of them are like extra long, like they’re not even like music videos anymore. They’re just like mini trailers or they’re just like, they got so much different things. They got like special affects and I don’t know just him dancing doing things that have never been seen before like mad, cutting edge. Like everything he did was cutting edge. Like could you just imagine like in the 80s like someone doing the moonwalk like looking like he’s just defying gravity. Like mind bogling like never been done before so that’s what I think it was like so it’s all good.

Bashy: My Favourite Michael Jackson video? It’s a bit unfair, I feel like I can’t really say that yeah this one was my favourite. I think erm, what’s my favourite video? (You had scream, wanna be starting something) Smooth Criminal (sings beat). And he does the leaning ting.

Bashy: I think my favourite Michael Jackson video will probably have to be Smooth Criminal cos like you know like the leaning. I think everyone tried to do the leaning and couldn’t do it. Like a lean a little bit, like that much and then fall over you get me or just like loose my balance so just everything. The flicking of the coin, like the (does impression of Michael Jackson flicking coin in video) like ahh everything about the video. I’m just imagining like being young cos I was young at the time so just like seeing it is just like rah someone could look, like obviously it’s affects and that but in your head you’re just thinking someone can flick a coin and it can go into the jukebox and then you can lean and ahh amazing. (hums beat of the smooth criminal) yeah hard.

Bashy: I think if you look at Michael’s catalogue of songs like the other day playing videos back to back and I was like I forgot about that song, I forgot about that song, wow I forgot about that song, I forgot about that song and it’s just like he’s written all these like, that’s why it sounds mad. His publishing cheque must have just been massive because he’s written so many hits. He’s not like so many popstars of today, they’ve got this person writing for them, this person writing for them and you know it’s very like I don’t know like put together, like a factory. His was just like an organic talent from like a 5 year old or just like as he’s gotten older just writing song after song, after song, after song. Like he’s so big that even if a writer gave him a song, he would make it a massive song. Like R Kelly gave him (starts to sings) You are not alone, massive.

Bashy: My earliest memory of Michael Jackson which is mad because obviously he was doing his thing before I was born you get me so but my earliest memory was like, my dad had a vinyl and my dad don’t even play vinyl again but yeah my dad had a vinyl: Off the Wall, Michael, little afro, like black, I think it was like a bow tie or something, he’s up against the wall, that’s like my earliest memory of seeing Michael Jackson.

Bashy: You see Thriller, this is gonna sound mad yeah but I was a little bit scared of Thriller when it come out so you this like yeah it was deep like changes into the ahh it’s a lot. Just like I thought that was like a film, that whole thing was just like a film you get me, like he’s in the cinema and he had the girl that I thought was kris at the time. I thought that she was nice you get me. She had the little jerry curl thing going on, I just thought she was mad sexy so just seeing the video and then at the end where his eyes lights up ahh heavy man.

Bashy: Yeah, alright you see the moonwalk I think every person who’s seen it has attempted to do the moonwalk. I’ve tried it: unsuccessful. There’s people who can do it that I know, they can do it pretty well but I just think like the moonwalk’s like you know the moonwalk and Michael Jackson go hand in hand like you can’t think of him without thinking about the moonwalk and you can’t think of the moonwalk. If you see anyone do it you’re automatically gonna think about Michael Jackson.

Bashy: The Jackson 5 was a bit before my time but obviously just like their music is so great and it stands the test of time that you know you get the chance of looking back on it so when you’re seeing like the earlier videos of them and they’re doing the ABC’s and you got Michael Jackson doing Ben and then what’s the name of that one?

Bashy: I think Michael Jackson passing, I don’t think the world was ready for him to go yet but what I have seen is that like you know like even me I’m looking back on a lot of the old videos now and I’m thinking wow that was amazing or wow I forgot about that and I just think that you know like towards the latter part of his life I don’t think like the world was appreciating like the special star that we had. Like you don’t get great people like this all the time, great musicians or great beings or people who’ve made a change in the world and he’s one of those people who’s made like a massive contribution to black music, to pop culture and I don’t think we appreciated him fully whilst he was here so I think that we’re looking back on it like you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone and I think that a lot of people are feeling, feeling the effects of that. For me when I was younger, when I was coming up like I wanted to be Michael Jackson. Like I didn’t want to be like him, I didn’t want to dance like him, act like him, sing like him. I actually wanted to be him you get what I’m saying. He was mad slim, like when you see him init, so I just thought I’m not eating, I just want to be slim so like I loved Michael Jackson especially as a youngster, like loved like. I don’t think there’s any other musician other than probably Bob Marley that I can say that I loved them and I think that’s what a lot of people are feeling. When you see people crying and mourning his death like those are real tears cos they probably loved him to.

Bashy: I think Michael Jackson is gonna be like one of those artists that you know we was privileged to see him alive in our lifetime dancing and first hand getting the videos and seeing the new stuff that is happening but I think like the younger generation coming up like they’re gonna get sort of you know he’s gonna be more like a myth, like a mythical figure for them so like and they’re not gonna get to see something like that again but because of things like youtube and he’s had so many albums out and there’s dvds and people will talk about his life and then like Chinese whispers, people will pass down like information about him, I just think he’s gonna be one of those people that last forever.
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Michelle Williams FROM DESTINY'S CHILD
Michael Jackson has undoubtedly left a huge legacy to the world, to entertainers to a doctor or a student or a teacher, although I’m not his child at all but I feel like you know how somebody leaves but they still leave something, something’s here that he left for us and I think it’s our duty to pick up where he left off whether that be philanthropy, whether that be through how he was just full out in rehearsals, on stage he would go for it so I think for me that’s what he left for me, it’s like I’ve changed my daily motto of just going for it.

I remember Destiny’s Child performing for him for his 30th anniversary. We performed for him at Madison Square Garden in 2001, we performed ‘Bootylicious’ and we did that song because even in 0our original song in the original video we did a Michael Jackson tribute sort of things, we had the hats we had the high water pants so that was a lot of fun – but in the performance we didn’t have on pants we had on skirts and what not but it was still a great performance and when we got through he stood up and he was doing this (thumbs up) and he was vibing with the performance and we took a picture with him and went to the after reception and I got a chance to actually sit and watch him perform and that’s where I just turned in to a little girl who got ice cream for behaving good or something. It was an absolute dream come true, my heart is defiantly hurting because of his passing, it defiantly hurts too because of the fact that I am here in London as well and he was going to be here to do shows I was just wanting to plan to see him, but that just means that God’s plan supersedes ours.

The impact that Michael had on pop culture, music period – I don’t know if anybody is going to make that impact again. Ones now will come close but that’s because of what he left and it’s kind of like – man do we now step up the game? But there are some great talented entertainers out there, some great musicians, I just don’t know if it will be the same – it will not be the same.

Well what was so great about Michael if I’m not mistaken he was hands on in the beginning process, writing the treatments it looked like he brought us in to his world, it didn’t looked contrived it didn’t look like somebody else just wrote the treatment and he just showed up to the video. Even in his last few days of life we saw pictures of him in rehearsal and I saw a picture of him at the camera where I know when people tour and they film their concerts every night and I just know there are cameras everywhere so it looked like he was at one of those cameras probably trying to make sure the shot is right, trying to make sure I’m standing in the right spot to be in the shot maybe telling the dancers you got to be over here if you want to be seen – it just looked like he was directing too and I think that’s the influence he also had. I know on Destiny’s Child we were very much involved in treatments and being hands on – you don’t want to go through life and be like – man I didn’t put any of myself in to anything I did, and I appreciate that.

Favourite Michael Jackson video? Ok I’ll go from something recent I love ‘You Rock My World’ there’s a part in the video where his shoulders are hunched up and his hat is down – to me Michael just had a way of hand placement, the hat, the way he would just stand straight but that leg would be cocked in, it was just little swag movements were so hot – you know I had a crush on Michael Jackson – it was just little swag movements like that that were just so hot- did I just reveal that darn it. Let mw tell you something men have a way when you could just do the slightest movement and it’s not necessarily raunchy, he doesn’t have to do all that you know, Michael would just freaking stand there and you would just want to take off your clothes, I’m serious, not that I was eight years old wanting to take off my clothes, when I got older and realised.

Michael Jackson just had a w ay of, even when he just stood on the stage and would look across the room he just oozed ‘I am the man’ ‘I am the bomb everybody yell, I am here’. He was just excellent and I find myself even if I’m tuning him to him I’m paying attention even more and just like what he him so awesome?

As a songwriter they were deep but for me personally it wasn’t to the point where it went over your head he just wrote from the heart, he wasn’t trying to be philosophical even though some of the songs were, but a simple song like one of my favourite songs ‘Will You Be There’ ‘Will you carry me, hold me like a mother, be like my brother, will you still care’ that’s just like in conversation ‘I’m bad’ I think that was really like ‘I’m bad sha’mon’ I think ‘Sha’mon’ meant ‘come on’.

Earliest memory of Michael Jackson – being scared of the ‘Thriller’ video, I don’t know why and then I felt so scared for the woman in the video – I didn’t know that stuff was fake so I’m like scared for the woman every time I see the video, even though I know the woman’s alive at the end of the video – every time I’m like ‘Oh my God he’s gonna get her’. But I hope we really pay attention not only to…Janet said something so fabulous on the BET awards when she said ‘To you Michael is an icon, to us Michael is family’ and that’s what I don’t want us to forget that Michael did have a heart, Michael did have a soul some people thought he was so divine like that nothing would touch him, he would just walk around without a feeling or care in the world but he did, Michael felt, he hurt like we hurt, he smiled when something was funny, he frowned when something wasn’t funny, people should not forget when you become so great don’t forget that person has a soul.

A dance move that’s more iconic than the moonwalk? Well like I said just placements of hands, I know with what I’m doing in Chicago – I know we’ll touch on that later, but I’m noticing Michael did pay attention to Bob Fossey because that hand on the hat – he always made sure his fingers were like this, from down when he pointed his hands down, it’s little things like that that are so important, I wouldn’t say much more important than moves – oh he could do that one thing, I want to figure out how he could stand up and come back like that – I’m a little upset he didn’t give me that secret.

I think Jackson 5, ‘ABC’ and then of course the cartoon that was cool too, top see every now and then we could catch the cartoon if the channel was playing it.

Michael Jackson to me musically was probably as close to perfection as one could get. Michael Jackson to me meant hard worker – he could not get to where he was able to get without working hard, I’m sure even on a daily basis he had to exercise that instrument, singing, dancing. I was told by producers when they would work with him that even when he was in his performing and it’s like when you hear some of his music you knew he was cutting a step at the point because it makes sense because you eventually have to perform that stuff live and if you’re in the booth like ‘la la la’ and you’re not maybe dancing with it – it kind fo makes sense to see if I can dance and sing with this song at the same time. Michael Jackson just meant an angel even as far as how he cared about people that were less fortunate than he was that really, really goes a long way because you can get so big in the world that you really aren’t obligated to help but he just felt obligated.
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TV AND RADIO PERSONALITY Trevor Nelson

Wow where do you start with Michael Jackson’s legacy well first of all as a child performer you could only name only two or three in the history of the century that were as good as him, Sammy Davis Jnr was one of them and so was Shirley Temple – you’ll have to look that up on Google because they are iconic legends. Michael Jackson as a child performer unsurpassed. As a performer period he was s sponge, he took from James Brown, people like Wilson Pickett – some of the legends – incorporated their moves their stage performance with modern day disco, rock, pop, R&B and even hip hop moves – he was unsurpassed as a performer as well.

Michael Jackson was basically like a sponge, he saw things, he impersonated them and he put them in to his own style. James Brown, Wilson Pickett, some of the great performers, I think Jackie Wilson he was influenced by all of these 60’s legends. He had a vocal style that he borrowed from the old R&B school if you hear him singing at 11 he was singing like an old man ‘I’ll Be There’ ‘Who’s Loving You’ ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’ just incredible for his age and he managed to fuse disco, hip hop, rock, pop just all in to one mesh it was amazing and it all came in to a bundle of energy on stage – for me his legacy is not just about his performance and his iconic status, he also dressed like nobody else he knew he was being an icon while he was alive and at his peak, he knew no one was alike him. But his body work was phenomenal just with the Jackson 5 alone – if he never did anything else that would have been a great legacy. But it was the Jackson 5, it was the intermittent solo albums like ‘Ben’ then ‘Thriller’ then ‘Off the Wall’ then ‘Bad’ – three incredible albums all in a row. Any one of those would have satisfied any superstar artist to say ‘well I made Bad, oh no I didn’t just make Bad I made Thriller I didn’t just make Thriller I made Off the Wall’. Forget ‘Dangerous’ that was still great but it didn’t match those three. So in every department he is the number one superstar of all time just about literally – and don’t forget his vocal ability. Michael Jackson’s voice is one of the sweetest R&B vocals you will ever ever hear and not only that I think he’s the best ad-libber ever, we joke about all the ‘he he’ and all those ad-libs but you can’t actually do them, you try to do them but you can’t do them and Quincy Jones said that he left not one drop in the studio and you can hear it, that’s where it comes from it’s almost like an exhaustion screech like James Brown used to when he used to scream.

I think most people aren’t aware that he didn’t write most of his own hits but he did collaborate on them and I had this discussion with somebody not long ago – for his greatest albums ‘Off the Wall’ and ‘Thriller’ Rod Temperton who was from a Britsih band called ‘Heatwave’ was the key song writer – he wrote most of those great songs, Quincy Jones was the producer. Michael Jackson what he did was to come in to the studio there’s a hit record I’m going to make it in to a super hit record I’m going to ad ad-libs I’m going to do it this way and that’s what he was really great at rather than sitting there and let me think I’m going to write a song it was more about what he could add to a song. So Rod Temperton was the guy who wrote most of Michael Jackson’s greatest hits and he’s a mustachio, if you walked past him in the street you would not recognise him but he’s a very wealthy man.

He wrote ‘Off the Wall’ most of it he wrote most of ‘Thriller’ I think ‘’Thriller’ was more of a collaboration but Rod had tracks on both. Rod Temperton wrote ‘Boogie Nights’.

I think, let’s face it this is MTV now we know the history of MTV, when we talk MTV Michael Jackson’s not too far behind because MTV was great for Michael Jackson and Michael Jackson was great for MTV. The video for ‘Thriller’ alone probably made MTV, it was shown on repetition over and over again, there was no other channel that could claim that – MTV helped make Michael a superstar so basically video making he set the bar no one ever touched. When news of a new video from Michael Jackson went around it was a family situation. It was forget the Queens Speech it was you sit down and I remember watching ‘Thriller’ with my whole family it came on after 9 o Clock at night because it was scary, it was an event. I remember ‘Thriller’ I remember every video from that album, I remember ‘Billie Jean’ was a big occasion and the same happened with ‘Bad’ when ‘Bad’ came out the video the first time we saw that video and they’re in car park giving it all that, it was just incredible and everyone wanted to know what Michael looked like. And the same was with ‘Remember the Time’ when Iman was in the video and then ‘In the Closet’ with Naomi Campbell looking the best she’s ever looked like in her entire life – these are iconic videos so the video bar was set real high by Michael Jackson. I think really his influence on every artist that followed him was enormous. I could reel off so many artists that tried to be Michael – Rockwell, Terence Trent D’Arby, Usher – every time I spoke to Missy – Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson even though Missy doesn’t look like Michael Jackson he influenced her, Timbaland you name them. Justin Timberlake, any male solo R&B artist that ever shook a leg on stage after Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ will tell you Ginuwine – Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson, Ne-Yo, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson, Marcus Houston, Omarion, B2K, Boybands you name then – Jackson 5, Michael Jackson it all goes back to him. The thing that surprised me was when hard core hip hop artists never had a bad word to say about him because yet again although they’ve got this posture of I’m hardcore I’m bad – they really were in to ‘Bad’ they were in to Michael Jackson. I also think as a black man, and fair enough he was ambiguous as a black man in the 80s we all didn’t like what happened to his skin colour but in saying that it made him even more of a global icon because we all know and people hate to admit it, that the lighter he got, the more the globe recognised him. I would have loved to have seen him as a dark skinned man as he was becoming the world’s number one superstar because I think he could have done it anyway and the world was changing but it is important, it’s unbelievable. I can’t put it in to words it’s that big.

The one thing we can thank Michael Jackson for and even my little show ‘The Lick’ existing on MTV is partially down to acceptance of him on MTV and making middle America because this is where it was most important accept him in to their bosom because it was like, I kid you not, if it wasn’t for the success of Michael Jackson I’m not sure Michael Jordan even as a sports star would have been as successful as marketable, remember Michael Jackson got these incredible deals from Pepsi, the like had never been seen before from a black artist because of the power of his performance in music, so his breakthrough at MTV was just a start of a domino effect on television and mainstream period, it was no longer difficult for certain artists, black – quote on quote – artists to get access to where they’d never been before because of Michael Jackson. Years later the Britney’s and people like that were getting these big Pepsi deals, that wasn’t such a big deal $75 million that wasn’t such a big deal. The Michael Jackson deal was what everyone was talking about because not only was it a huge deal but also on a business level he had the highest level of royalties than any other artist at one point he cut the best deal for his records than any artist had done. And for a black guy to do that when the history of black music was always ‘I’ll swap my publishing for a Cadillac’ or how many broke black musicians did you hear about not just because they didn’t want to take care of their business because initially they didn’t take care of their business well he also was quite astute like that.

I remember first seeing him – this is really going to show my age off – in ‘Shake Your Body Down to the Ground’. It was the first time I saw him in some spangily weird sort of disco wear and then obviously the ‘Off the Wall’ came. His videos up to then weren’t anything to talk about, the Jackson videos were half of the course – it was all about the ‘Thriller’ album – I believe in the making of that album, after hearing tapes of the making of that album they decided to go for broke – he already was having a bit of success and there was a good feeling from radio for his album but when the ‘Thriller’ video was put together and he hired john Landis who was the director of ‘An American Werewolf in London’ - he was a film director, it was liking hiring Spielberg to do your video it was unheard of and we heard this video was 15 minutes long and it’s costing over a million dollars, this was over 20 something years ago, a million dollars or whatever it cost. SO everyone’s like ‘He’s not going to make that money back, no one’s done it before, it’s insane’ when you saw the video it was just a video it was like a musical, it was like being at the ‘Rocky Horror Show’ musical meets Michael Jackson, it was just bizarre I wanted to see it again as soon as I saw it, it was like ‘play it again please play it again’ and I think they played it later that night and we wanted to stay up again to watch it, it had that impact. At school the next day everybody was like ‘did you see that’ and it made you feel so good that someone could be that talented. After that he flipped it, you saw ‘Beat It’ ‘Billie Jean’ all slightly different, all requiring from him as an artist a level of performance that you still hadn’t seen before. I think it’s the boundary pushing, you can get videos where the cinematography is amazing, the special effects are amazing and it makes the artist look better than they are, but Michael Jackson never was outdone by Special effects – never. Michael Jackson put his foot down, the floor lit up, we expected that to happen, if Michael Jackson did the moonwalk on water I would not be surprised – I’d say I bet that can be done because Michael Jackson just did It. That’s how he had us and I think video’s supposed to help enhance the song, the help sell records for the album, he went beyond that, that’s why he’s the only artist that’s ever sold that many albums because you see a screaming fan they’re seduced, that’s hwy young people today 15, 16, 17 why are they fanatical about Michael Jackson – you know why because they’re looking at his videos going ‘even 30 years on I have not see no-one do that’. Still you look at ‘Thriller’ and you go ‘no-one can do that’.

The ‘Scream’ video was a big statement for him, the fact his sister was in it, the fact he swears in it from what I can remember – it’s attacking the media for attacking him, the fact he’s got back up from his sister who at the time was one of the biggest selling artists in the world and the fact that he spent so much money which was almost scary because then you’re talking about that is not going to get recouped, you’re not going to get seven million dollars back on a video, you’re just making a big statement mate and he was – and I think it was a great video, I actually, it’s not one of my favourite Michael Jackson videos for the simple reason the hype before it was too big, the expenditure was too big. Yes it was great the way they got their knees together at the same time, they way they looked like brother and sister, the way they got the moves, it did look amazing, it’s not my favourite song, it’s a plea, it’s almost like him being political, him just being angry – it was like ugly Mike, cuddly Mike, ugly Mike and he’s free to do that.

Can I be honest with you? I said to somebody a few years ago, I don’t think Michael Jackson’s going to live beyond 50, he did live beyond 50, his obsession with Pete Pan, I also don’t want to see him grow old, I don’t think anyone said that about him, I didn’t want to see him grow old, I didn’t want to see him go to prison, I didn’t want to see him looking sad, I didn’t want to see him with grey hair, I didn’t want to see trying to look young. His legacy is completely cocooned because we’ll never know what he was going to look like, you know like James Brown when he was arrested and imprisoned I didn’t want to see that picture again. So I don’t know if Scream was…it’s ironic and for that reason I’m glad he made the video because you have to be angry once in your life, you’ve got to sometimes spit it out and scream and shout.

I think the toughest thing for us to handle with Michael Jackson is his genuine love for kids, it’s really tough to say that – he did love people and children and kids and he wouldn’t harm a fly in that respect and I really feel he thought he could heal the world I really think he’s a peace loving person, he wanted nothing but love, he never said anything angry about anybody he was always a loving person, but those allegations against him will always haunt that side of his nature. As a philanthropist he would have gone down ad a great apart from the fact that he has these allegations so it’s like a see-saw thing, it’s sad but for these people who didn’t believe it all, you sit down with these people and they have nothing but glowing things to say about this guy, this guy’s got love in his eyes, he’s got such a warm person I’d love to meet him. There’s a reason these people freak out when he’s around, there’s a reason that when he was going through the court case I had arguments over and over again with people going ‘you don’t actually think he’s guilty do you?’ and I go ‘well you got to think about it rationally’ ‘no you’re mad he’s not he’s a loving guy’. And these are rational people losing it with me because I’m just trying to be reasonable. So there must be a reason why he spread a lot of love to a lot of people through his music and just the way he was, people pitied him in a way, they didn’t – if you say Michael Jackson’s looking a bit freakish ‘no he’s not it’s not his fault’ they get very defensive and protective over him and they’ve never even met him, never even seen him in concert and these people argue with you to the point of getting threatening to you ‘he’s a lovely guy leave him’. I don’t think he’s going to be remembered massively for his love of people and kids because every time you mention kids you know what comes up, so I think the music is the most powerful legacy he’ll ever have, the music and performance, I don’t think people will talk about what he did for charities and children, I think it’s going to be about the music and the performance purely. If you think of anybody that you’ve heard of 50, 60 years ago – if someone said to you Fred Astaire all you think about is dancer, you don’t know the politics that went with Fred Astaire. Elvis Presley, greatest rock n’ roll singer of all time, you don’t know that he like Priscilla Presley at 13 and liked loads of them and kept going.

I’ve lots of personal memories of Michael Jackson, never met the guy, almost had the chance once but didn’t but sometimes you don’t need to meet people who are idols because they can only disappoint, that’s how I see it, that’s why sometimes its best never to meet them. The first record I ever got ever, my uncle brought me, it was the Jackson 5’s greatest hits, it’s the only record I had until I was about 12 or 13, I played it every day – ‘I Want You Back’ was the first…’ABC’ ‘The Love You Save’ ‘Never Can Say goodbye’ ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ ‘I’ll Be There’ ‘Rockin’ Robbin’ then we brought the single ‘Hallelujah Day’ so all we had me and my sister was Jackson 5, we had the poster on the wall with the afros, I’m a little black boy in Hackney looking at that going ‘I wish my hair could grow like that – wow Michael Jackson’ there was Michael Jackson and Muhammed Ali and a footballer called Pele who I never really saw because he retired by the time I was old enough but they were the three massive black icons as I was growing up so they’re my earliest memories. The cartoon which most people have never said before – the Jackson 5 had their own cartoon I used to watch that – I think it was rubbish but we used to watch it. And the first time that I ever saw him on British television talking I was so shocked at his voice (does impression) I was like he doesn’t talk like that and he does I couldn’t believe it I thought has his voice broken? I don’t think his voice ever broke until he said ‘this is it’ that’s the deepest I ever heard Michael Jackson when he was selling the 02 dates. I’ll never forget when he came to London and me and my sister bunked off school because we went to Madame Tussauds to see his wax work and the media mass was incredible, she buked off school he jumped on top of a car with the glove with the military outfit, and there’s pictures of it where there’s just thousands of people with cameras it was a great scene and that was the height of his fame I’ll never forget that. I’ll never forget clearly the first time he moonwalked and the grammy performance.

The last thing I want to say is – a couple of the shambolic performances Michael Jackson’s put in the last 10 years that people have been saying ‘has he still got it’ – I saw the auditions for dancers for his tour – forget X Factor this was – they came in from all over the world just to be on stage with him and they whittled it down to the ones that were going to do the tour and these people were so overcome with emotion and I started thinking that all these dancers could probably do it better than Michael at 50 years old. So the thing for everybody was ‘can he still do it – can he still do any of it’ – what 50 year old do you know that can dance apart from Madonna and everyone’s always on her case about her working out – but when she performs no one says anything because she can do it like a 21 year old. We’ll never know if Michael Jackson can still do it – apparently rehearsals they were saying he got it back and he was good because his spins were a bit off recently so it’s really interesting and that’s why a million tickets sold in the UK – everyone wanted to know if he’d still got it and we’ll never know and that is really sad – because I think it would have been great if he could have done a good tour and then stopped – that would have been the final memory of him. All those shambolic awards shows they invited him to and he came up and he was a bit confused – was this award for me wasn’t it for me? And people saying he danced like an uncle – we’ll never know. He had a chance and it’s just one of those great things and we’ll never know conspiracy theories can run riot forever now.

Today is a very sad day for music lovers all around the globe and the MTV BASE family wish to pay respects to the legacy of MICHAEL JACKSON and send condolences and prayers out to Michael's family and friends.

Michael influenced every urban music artist that MTV BASE play on air and his loss will be felt for all the music community.

Friends of MTV BASE spoke to us about their thoughts at the tragic news of Michael Jackson's sudden passing....

PHARRELL WILLIAMS reflected "the way he moved, the way he sang, those records that him and Quincy did together are massive and he's affected the world in a way that we'll all never be the same"

ALESHA DIXON said that she was "thankful to have witnessed a true legend in my lifetime. My heart cannot express the joy his music has bought to my life. I pray for him and his family. Thankyou Michael Jackson for all you have given."

CRAIG DAVID summed up the superstar; “There are stars and people who influenced you who are great lyricists and songwriters - and then there are superstars. In my lifetime I don’t know if I’m going to see one of those again. It’s a great loss."

ESTELLE expressed her shock at the star's untimley death - “I just can’t believe he’s gone. I keep thinking I’ll go to sleep, wake up and he’ll still be alive.I was born in 1980 and I grew up listening to him. He just meant so much to me."

MS DYNAMITE exclusively revealed to MTV her thoughts on "The King of Pop"- "MJ was undoubtedly a Legend that touched, influenced & inspired the entire world! MJ was 'music' itself, he was an entertainer on every level, right through to his soul & his presence will b greatly missed, the world over!"

Finally - BASHY made a fitting tribute to Jackson: "Michael Jackson was my hero when I was younger. The BIGGEST MUSIC Star in the world is gone but he'll never be forgotten. I hope he's at peace now."

Someone once said ‘’Dream as if you'll live forever, Live as if you'll die 2day. You only live once, but if you do it right that's all you need ‘’.........you did it Big MJ!

I woke up this morning with the biggest smile on my face ever, IM GOING TO MEET SEAN PAUL!!!! is all I was thinking. On Monday the 22nd of June I started work experience with Mtv Base I didn’t have a clue what I was going to be asked to do but I was just happy to be there. I walked into the office met Jasmine and the team (they were really nice) and the first thing Jasmine said to me was on Wednesday were going to shoot Sean Paul’s, (LETS PAUSE FOR A SECOND! We be burning not concerning what no body wanna say, I love that song O MY GOSH just seeing Sean Paul’s face to face is enough I don’t even need to hear the rest). Anyhoo she said we were going to be shooting his Top 50 Summer Sizzlers, and that he’s got a new album coming out so can I do a bit of research on it (OK what was going through my mind was need to get this research done and o my gosh he’s got a new album coming out would love to find out more info about this but most importantly WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR ON WEDNESDAY!).
So I done some research about his new album whilst still in shock about what Jasmine said and I found out its coming out in August and with a new twist to it apparently he’s not doing the normal party tunes he wants to touch on reality and he’s got a couple of songs dedicated to the ladies (AKA me lolz I wish) so I defiantly have to purchase that.
The second job I was asked to do that I done on Tuesday as well was log some interviews from Kojo’s comedy Fun House. I found it really interesting to watch because it seemed like a really fun night I so wished I was there and some of the people said really funny things. Like when they were talking about Kojo’s kitchen and how disgusting the food was and that people still attempted to eat it. I remember writing another one JCX and Slick talking about how well Quincy done and they called him a Cock Bayesian because he’s from Barbados but speaks in a cockney accent.
Right so I go to bed on Tuesday really early hoping the next day comes as soon as possible and it does! I get to work and hear that there’s going to be some UK artists there too. Goooossshhh!!!!! As if seeing Sean Paul hasn’t made my dreams come true already there’s going to be other artists there too! Ok so quick toilet check to see if everything’s alright and o yeah don’t forget the lip gloss. Right so I come back to the office and its time to leave to go to the studio, we get there (By the way I was in the lift with Bashy at one point, can you believe it I was finding it so hard not to stare) and everything’s just getting set up. Sean Paul was presenting his 50 Summer Sizzlers whilst having a barbeque. Not a fake one, a real one they brought out the meat, started firing up the barbeque bringing out juice and fruit.
Ok so I go to get a cup of water because its baking hot I come back and guess who is in front of me SEAN PAUL! Right everyone’s acting so cool as if he’s just the guy next door so I try to blend in with everyone else as best as I can even though my mouth is wide open and my body is frozen literally. I just wanted to go over to him and say just gimme the light Sean! I even planned to just sing it as he was walking past me but I thought I might look like a bit of a neek. Next the other artists came threw like Dj Ironik, Chipmunk (the love of my life), Tychy Stryder, Master Shorty, Sibly and Brat. And the cameras started rolling it was so exciting just seeing everything happening live it was so cool.
I got to witness some off the funniest things that were said on and off camera. For example when Sean Paul would break out into a cockney accent every time Yemi (the Mtv Base Researcher acting as the co-director for the day) would say can we take that again please. And when he started presenting with the artists Dj Ironik was up first and they were presenting Florida’s song, Jasmine asked them to just back reference and talk about The Pussy Cat Dolls for abit and they didn’t have that much to say so they ended up talking about their thighs! It really shows me how something’s just happen on the spot and you have to kind of improvise at times. Also before he was about to present with Sibley and he was talking about how his nose was just dripping all over the barbeque and she should try some, I was thinking how charming. I think the funniest one was when he was presenting with Tynchy Stryder and he was like ‘you were no1 in the UK charts and then Black Eyed Peas came and knocked you off,’ I just had to put my head down.
When all of them went home we continued the barbeque and had and had a great time just jamming listening to some bashment and nyamming on pineapples and coconuts it was so great, I couldn’t believe that this had just happened to me.
I would say they highlight of my day was getting a kiss from Sean Paul that’s right I said it not just one as well he kissed both cheeks and not only that I got a picture with him and then I got to take a picture with Chipmunk too. Ok I would scream but done enough of that in the toilets.
Wow ok what I’ve learnt from this is I can achieve anything I put my mind to I really got to see what goes on behind the scenes of the shoots and how busy it gets and stuff. I think this work experience just really confirmed that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life and I can’t thank Jasmine enough for giving me this opportunity and Susan, Yemi and Kerry for being such cool dudes to work with.

Last weekend MTV BASE had a huge turn out-1500 audience for KOJOS COMEDY FUN HOUSE at west London’s Tabernacle and whilst it may have been a grey day outside, inside the venue it was blazing! Even the celebrities in the house who included British actor Idris Elba (Stringer Bell in The Wire), Lisa Maffia (So Solid Crew!-have reformed btw!), Su-Elise (Mis Teeq), Shystie (Dubplate Drama-back this month on MTV BASE!), Wretch32, Fundamental AKA FDM and many more, all turned up nice and early!.
So popular has the show become that we had 2 shows on the same night!. King of the Comedy Fun House-Kojo began this night years ago at a small London venue called Corks Wine Bar and gradually over the years his following has grown, he has persevered with his dream and now it’s a massive brand that has young fans of comedy selling out the event in hours!. He’s a good inspiration to his peers as someone who could’ve gotten caught up as a youngster (Hackney breeds some wild ones!), but he is now known on both sides of the pond and making cash!.
On this show we had KISS100FM DJ Manny Norte on the decks over seeing musical responsibilities, as usual 3 national comedians that had the audience in stitches. First up was the now infamous ‘’death spot’’ where an amateur comic takes the mic trying not to get waved off by the audience, JCX AND SLICK did amazingly and got a standing ovation! Then came established comic Funmbi, taking over from him was Quincy and rounding off the triple threat line up was Toju.
As if that wasn’t enough we had 2 music acts. In part 1 Bashy tore it up with his duet ‘’One Wish’’ with singer H Boogie (Estelle’s sister!). Then in part 2 we had Lethal B and Donaeo perform their smash ‘’Go Hard’’ which had the crowd jamming out their belly stitches after all that laughing!.
Thrown right in the mix were the usual fun house games between the teams who this time were captained by 2 random audience members who represented their areas (the Pecknam Transformers VS Brixton Roodies). Each team had a dance off called ‘’Strictly Come Skanking’’ where they made up street dances like ‘’walk the dog/take a shower/eat a sandwich and ride a horse”-it was eye wateringly hilarious!. They also had to have a meal in ‘’Kojo’s kitchen’’ where Kojo made them ‘’pizza a la Kojo’’ which consisted of the heavenly blend of a layer of an inch of peanut butter topped with anchovies and rice pudding!-grosser than gross!. To see the full out of control show where the comedy was even more raw than usual, catch KOJOS COMEDY FUN HOUSE 2 on MTV BASE on July 14th 10pm.

‘Are you absolutely phenomenally bonkers?!’. Is what I said when they asked me if I could make it up to the studio for a shoot with Idris Elba, AKA Stringer Bell from the Wire, AKA Derek Charles from Obsessed, AKA DJ Driss, AKA Tim Webster from Family Affairs, AKA Charles Gotso from The Office, AKA the black dude on the old Crimewatch reconstructions etc etc. “Of cours I’ll be there!”

The truth is he’s an absolute legend and has become one of the most respected faces on American TV, and the dude’s straight outta Hackney! So, when word got out that he’s coming up to the studio, even the MTV TWO guys wanted to come and watch!

And I don’t blame them because he’s a cool guy and doesn’t at all have the ego of the star he is. He came down to the studio’s humbly and has the presence of a respectful gentleman that can make everyone smile. He requested little but jokes with everyone, in fact, he could just as easily be your barber or your bus driver and I think the cliché of ‘feet remaining firmly on the ground’ is a perfectly appropriate definition of his ‘swagger’. Which is a word that is commonly over-used and often worn incorrectly, as he puts it: “Swagger is not a must, it’s a liability, a cliché, a bad suit”, on the intro to Jay Z’s American Gangster. He told me he wrote, recorded and sent that track to Jay Z with out informing him who sent it. Apparently, after listening to the track Jay said to his manager ‘I don’t like it… I ****ing love it!’ and once he found out it was written by the man who plays Stringer Bell, the rest is history.

Anyway, Idris had come up to the studio to record his links for the ‘Top 50 US All Stars with Idris Elba’, which will be aired on July 4th. And judging by this performance as a presenter, I think Trevor, Reggie, Kat, Ace, Vis and even Zane should be watching their backs. Pretty much every link (I think there were around 50) was done in one take with out an auto cue as he managed to recall personal stories of meeting the legendary stars he was linking to. For instance, while he was staying at another 5 star hotel in the states he bumped into a short dude who was mumbling something. The ‘short dude’ was none other than Pharrell Williams, and the something he was mumbling was him congratulating Idris on his self-made success. Also, he told us about a time when P Diddy called him up and asked him to hang out, before taking him to Jay Z’s birthday party! Can you imagine that? Getting a phone call from Mr Diddy himself just to ask if you can come out! That’s how you know you’ve got some serious ‘swagger’, and it doesn’t stop there! Busta Rhymes also called Idris personally and asked him to head down to his video shoot for “Respect My Conglomerate” just to give the video a bit more of a gangster feel!

I think Idris Elba is one of the few people who have generated so much hype and are not over-rated. He’s earned every bit of his respect and does a good job at maintaining it. We even cancelled booking our regular make-up artist for the shoot, as all the girls in the office wanted the chance to touch his face. Susan, the MTV Base assistant producer won the battle and clearly enjoyed the job immensely, in fact I’m not even sure if she even managed to apply any make up! But I can’t talk! I was one of many who requested a photograph and signed copy of his new single. Yes he’s a musician too and there’s plenty more to come from him… just don’t call him Stringer, he hates it and can easily hurt you!

IDRIS ELBA - a quick catch up........
Interviewer-Jasmine Dotiwala

JD-You’re about to bring out an album under the name Driss, how did this come about?)

Idris: Erm how did it come about, how did my music and album come about. Well here it is erm I sort of had music in my life for a long, long time and I’ve sort of kept it to the side because you know as an actor and you know what I’m honestly in a transitional period right now. I want to express myself a little bit more so I’m deciding to express that with music. It’s an honest approach, I’m a DJ so I feel like I kind of have a right to say what I want with music and I will. I don’t have a name for the album, there is a couple of contenders. One is called King amongst kings and the other is called Sound boy in space so I’m looking at that

JD-Tell us a little bit about what we can expect from the sound of the album)

Idris: The sound of the album is definitely a hybrid of all my influences, you know I grew up on reggae, hip hop, African music, drum and bass and I think what I’m doing is kind of like approaching the sound of this as a DJ. So I’m kinda doing a lot of mash up and putting songs on mash ups kind of things. That’s the idea. My influences are other DJ’s, I mean other artists like that. Gnarles Berkley for example, John Legend. You know you they put a real pallet of sounds together.

JD-You’ve acted alongside Beyonce, do you think you will be able to get her to feature in one of your tracks?)

Idris: Can I get Beyonce to feature on one of my records. Erm maybe. I don’t think I will. You know I feel like because people know me as an actor. I feel like I really have to stay away from doing collaborations just because. I think I want my audience to love the music for what it is or not. But not because I got an artist on it so I wont be asking Beyonce but I’m sure she’ll give me love

JD-Your Wire co-star Dominique Quest is on the Eminem album. Were you jealous that he was approached? Would you have liked to been in there?

idris;Dominique West on the Eminem, nah. I mean who can do a posher accent then that. I couldn’t so big up Dominique. I know he needed to get on the album cos I did Jay Z, now man have to try and do Eminem innit. But big up to Dominic West

JD-You know Jay Z, you’re a big fan of his music, and have you heard of any of his album, the Blueprint 3)

Idris: I am a fan of Jay Z and I’ve only heard a couple of tracks from the B|lueprint, I am a fan of Jay Z and I have heard a couple of tracks from the new Blueprint album but I don’t you know hat I mean. I don’t want to hear too much yet. I want to hear the whole thing. I think it’s gonna be good erm it’s highly anticipated so we’ll see what happens (Is there anything about the 2 tracks you’ve heard) Yeah the one that I heard auto tune, heavy, the beat is heavy. I thought he could have gone deeper, a little bit (Do you think he’s offended other artists) I don’t think he’s offended, I think he shares. I don’t think Jay Z’s offended. I think he shares you know a common place for all music lovers. It’s like what’s going wrong with our music? You know what What’s going wrong, Why is everyone sounding the same. What happened to individuality so I think that’s definitely something we all share

JD-and finally can you tell us what films and projects you’ve got coming up and what else we should look for in the life of Idriss Elba)

idris;Well I’ve got a few things coming up. Erm film wise I’ve got a film that I just, for the first time I put on my EP hat and it’s a film called legacy. I shot that out in Glasgow and it’s about a soldier that has schizophrenia. It’s a phenomenal story, I’m really really proud of it. I worked really, really hard so that comes out next year. I’ve got a film that I did called The Takers with T.I., Hayden Christianson, Paul Walker, Zoe Saldana and a huge, huge cast. Very excited about that. That also comes out in the new year and then my EP you know. You can check my music out on drissmusic.quat

idris; And then of course I’ve got the music coming out and erm honestly I’m gonna put out an EP. I just wanna see what people think. I wanna put together a live show, just me and my band called Trampion. Trampion ting! And we’re just gonna you know sort of support the music that comes out I guess towards the end of this year. Go to my website drissmusic.com. Check me out. Thanks

To promote the release of "Notorious" on DVD - I was asked to go on an amazing promo trip to Brookyln, NYC, to interview Christopher "Notorious BIG" Wallace's mother - Mrs. Voletta Wallace. Now if you are a hip hop head - you have no doubt heard about this inspirational woman - she has overcome breast cancer 3 times AND had to suffer the high profile ( and still unsolved after 12 years!?!?!) murder of her superstar son Biggie Smalls.

Armed with my presenter Kat, we were escorted around Biggie's neighbourhood by the woman that knew him best - Mrs. Wallace.

First up - we went to his childhood home. This was the place where he lived when he married Faith Evans and first met Lil Kim, whom he had a tumultuous on & off relationship with. (Apparently Lil Kim was upset with her portrayal in the movie and has publicly attacked Mrs. Wallace since it's release ). Mrs. Wallace graciously accepted the attack and said that she "would love to meet with her - mother to daughter" to discuss this. She also condemned her son's treatment of Lil Kim but said at the end of the day "This movie isn't about her - it's about Christopher".

Biggie's now iconic music video, "Juicy" was also filmed on the steps of his childhood home. I was told that the neighbourhood looks really different to when Biggie lived there - it's been gentrified over the years and a lot of money has been ploughed into the area!

Next up on our hit list - myself, Kat and Mrs. Wallace visited Fort Green Middle School - a Catholic School that Biggie studied at from a young age. It was also the first place where he was christened with the name "Big" due to his height and stature! He also excelled in English there. This was also the spot where Biggie's real life son with Faith Evans, CJ, shot some scenes in his portrayal of a young Biggie. Mrs. Wallace said she was proud of her grandson's acting and would support him if he chose to go into music or entertainment.

Finally - we visited Biggie's high school - Fort Westinghouse in Brooklyn. Ironically - this school was also home to Busta Rhymes, Jay Z and DMX! Talk about an amazing hip hop legacy of students! Sadly Mrs. Wallace had no recollection of the young wannabe rappers – although she said her son knew them when he was a student there! She also revealed that Biggie’s decision to drop out of Fort Westinghouse at the age of 17, to focus on music, made her want to kill him. She didn’t understand why he wanted to pursue music when “he couldn’t even sing”. Her parting words to us were “Biggie promised me that (music) would make him!” ....and that it did!

Go cop “Notorious “ on dvd if you haven’t already – it’s released at the end of June!
In the meantime you can catch Kat and Mrs. Wallace talking all things Biggie all this month on THE LICK – Sunday, 7th June @ 5pm.

THE LICK SHOOT WITH TREVOR NELSON AND TINCHY STRYDER
By Jennifer Akeedo-work experience

So today the sun is shining and I can just feel that it’s going to be a good day. Today is the day for The Lick shoot and I know it’s going to be a good one because the last time I was on a shoot for The Lick Trevor cracked so many jokes off set that I could have mistaken his career for a comedian. Last month Trevor Nelson had the beautiful singing sensation that is Alesha Dixon as a co host and this month we had no other than Mr Number 1 himself grime prince Tinchy Stryder. The location is The Vinyl Factory which is an exhibition of all of the artists on Island Records which though in the basement leads on forever, it’s absolutely huge and has pictures of all the artists on there including Tinchy Stryder even though it was near the toilets. From what I can remember Tinchy did see the funny side of it.

Trevor is there first ready and rearing to go with his fresh white shirt and white converse and so we manage to do the shoots we can first before Tinchy arrives. Trevor has been doing it for years so even though he literally has just seen the script he manages to do all the links with literally no retakes. So the shoots go well apart from one girl who I could have sworn was crackling her packet of crisps around where we were shooting on purpose. Trevor decides that we need to liven up the shoot and from that very point Trevor and Jasmine (MTV BASE SERIES PRODUCER for THE LICK) decide to have a cussing match between the two which I found absolutely hilarious, anyone could have mistaken them for a married couple. Jasmine cusses Trevors tin foil like shoes and Trevor cusses her pastel shaded ‘Stella McCartney’ outfit. This follows through later on to Jasmine calling Trevor tight as he always conveniently forgets his wallet and she covers the bill for his muffin and coffee. Ironically we bump into the person who kick started of Trevor’s career at MTV (Christine Boar) who now owned the catering company where we were.

So Tinchy arrives also ready and raring to go wearing his phenomena that is his branded Star in the Hood T-Shirt which it seems that everybody’s wearing nowadays, I think I need to make my order asap! So we’ve set up, all powdered up, we’re about to shoot the first scene between Tinchy and Stryder and what happens the fire alarm goes off and yes please believe we all had to exit the building where we nearly witness a car crash. Luckily it only lasts 5 minutes and then we’re back in there ready to shoot. A little crowd starts to form but nothing that can’t be managed. The shoot runs smoothly and I have to say Trevor may have to watch out for Tinchy because they were both very much up there in the presenting. It was informative and entertaining. Trevor compliments Tinchy on doing well with his presenting, and Tinchy asks Trevor if he should take his job and Trevor doesn’t quite agree. The shoot is light hearted and everything runs smoothly with jokes being cracked between shots.

I sneak off to get some Nandos for me, some of the Base team and Tinchy since it has been a long day and we’re all starving. By the time I’m back Trevor has finished his shoot and has headed of and Tinchy is just doing a last few bits and bobs for MTV NEWS in answering some questions. Funnily enough two of the questions asked by him are to do with sex as it’s for an up and coming feature ‘’six degrees of separation) and it’s quite funny when he insists on more questions from Jasmine to answer on sex! (he thinks the worst rumour about sex he heard was that too much masturbating can lead to blindness-he says he knows its not true!)
Finally the shoot is done, everyone’s happy with the result. At the end a friend of mine Nana comes from Nike with his colleague with some goodies for Tinchy and they catch up for a little bit. I find out that Tinchy has actually been doing his last year at University studying digital media and all I can say is that is what I call dedication. I asked him if it has been stressful and he said it has but I guess when you love what you do and you work hard anything is possible! Tinchy was definitely a good sport and I for one cannot wait to see the next Lick because I know it will be a good one!
I have had a great week of work experience at MTV BASE and its made me really believe that I can do anything I want!-LOOK AT ME WITH TREV AND TINCHY-WOW!

-jennider akeedo

NDubz and Solange Shoot Day

So today I knew was going to be nothing but excitement, unpredictability and laughter because not only did we have the singing sensation who’s a force to be reckoned with in the shape of Solange Knowles, we also had certified platinum selling, Britain’s answer to Black Eyed Peas: NDUBZ.

The day started of with NDUBZ who had to do a variety of shoots with us including a weekend of presenting Dubplate Drama and links for The Lick. So when the Base team arrived they were already recording for another shoot which shows the extent to how busy these guys really are and we were running on a tight schedule as Dappy had an interview on radio straight afterwards. It would seem like everyone wants a piece of NDUBZ and that they are hot property at the moment. So while the guys were shooting and Tulisa was getting her hair and make-up done me and producer Jasmine got an exclusive look at the trailer of Series 3 of Dubplate Drama which should be coming back on our screens from next month. We managed to get an exclusive look from the creator of Dubplate Drama himself Luke Hyams and it was interesting to find out his struggle to get the series out and how he started out working at YCTV and producing Channel U videos. It was quite surprising to find someone so cool, calm and collected who wrote the real, out there, in your face storylines of Dubplate Drama. The trailer was gripping, and I didn’t want it to end. You had the likes of NDUBZ themselves in there and people like Tim Westwood and I for one can say I cannot wait to see what the new series holds. Luke has definitely done a great job.

So eventually the shoot with NDUBZ begins and from the very start to the very end the room is filled with nothing but entertainment and laughter. Every link that is done whether there is an out-take or not is filled with nothing but boundless spouts of energy which had no spells of dullness what so ever. Even when MTV Base presenter Scottie B came to interview NDUBZ the energy was still just as much as it was 3 hours before hand. In the breaks it was funny to see the chemistry between Tulisa, Dappy and Fazer as when the boys wondered around Tulisa had to put them back in their place and tell them to sit down. The words ‘’naa, naa, nay’’ and ‘’madus forelus’’ echoed around the studio but a new one that even I haven’t heard before that seems to be used between all of them now is ‘’dookle’’, e.g ‘’dookle yourself’’. This is another word that they have created which can be used in many ways and is infectious as you find yourself getting used to hearing it. I for one have to say that the amount of bling between Scottie B, Fazer and Dappy was enough to blind someone’s eyes, it really was a lot. The interview was insightful as it put down rumours of so many different things like Tulisa’s swine flu scare and the alleged beef between them and Tinchy Stryder. So finally it is a wrap with NDUBZ and there is more than enough gripping footage to last a lifetime.

So we manage to squeeze in some lunch downstairs in the restaurant just before Solange’s shoot. Fazer joins us in the beginning while he waits for his car and tells us how hard they have been in the studio to get the album done for their August deadline. Then on the latter part of our lunch we are joined by the delightful Rickie and Melvin who arrive early and are suited and booted, breath minted up for their interview. We all head back to the studio and prepare for the shoot and not surprisingly Solange is fashionably late. In the meantime before she comes Rickie and Melvin are cracking jokes about past incidents with bodyguards at certain festivals. I have to say the lateness was well worth the wait. She comes in and she looks absolutely stunning with her cute shorts and navy blue jacket with her long flowing hair and new fringe. Though she was wearing heels her legs went on forever. She was an absolute professional, every question was answered with a detailed response, there was not one single outtake or mistake that she had. She addressed both Rickie and Melvin equally and despite rumours of her being quite serious in interviews she came across as being very happy, enjoying herself and constantly having laughs. The chemistry between Rickie & Melvin and Solange is sizzling hot. The flirting between them all was up in the air and at the end of the day Rickie ended up promising to Solange that he is going to have a jerry curl and Melvin has promised to cook Jollof rice for Solange. At one point Melvin even opens up his shirt to make Solange feel more comfortable over a mishap with a nipple incident not too long ago and Solange sees the funny side to it. There are cheers in the studio and another shoot is done and Solange leaves with her entourage that she arrived with. And to think that we were also going to have a Dizzee Rascal shoot for a top 50 as well. Now that would have been a mad day. By the time we’re back to the office it’s after 6 and I think I can speak for the Base team when I say it was a long day. Overall I believe that the day went well and it was good to see that Solange even mentioned us on her Twitter explaining how good her interview was!

PS- here i am ''cable bashing'' (making sure the digi beta cameraman on the tracks doesnt get his cables tangled up- it was a fun filled packed day that kept me on my toes!

Award winners Bashy and Noel Clarke-MTV BASE SHOOT- 20-5-09- by jennifer adeeko (MTV BASE WORK EXPERIENCE)

So today was going to be a good day. Not only was it not raining for once but it was going to be a good day because there was going to be a shoot with none other than the Prince of grime, Urban Music Award winning Ashley Thomas otherwise known as Bashy and none other than the UK’ answer to Spike Lee, Bafta Award winning Noel Clarke. They were both due to film for a feature for next month’s up and coming Lick called Face to Face which has celebrities pin upfront questions against each other. Previous people have included Dappy and Lethal B and Ashley Walters and Mutiya Buena. Noel Clarke arrived early and calmly waited for the shoot to begin while Bashy arrived on time and there was a sense of happiness to see each other. Already at this point for the fact that they both arrive by themselves, no friends, no assistants shows me that these are 2 serious guys.
Before the shoot begins Bashy is on the phone to his sister letting her know where to park on their road and Noel is telling us the story of how his neighbours 5 year old son keeps throwing all different kinds of things into his back garden and this week kindly put it all in a Sainsbury’s bag and rang his neighbour’s doorbell at 8am to drop it off.. Bashy has his dilemma of keeping on his adidas jacket keeping his promoters happy by showing it on television, or taking it off to reveal his bright and colourful T-Shirt which has one of his trademark names: ‘Bish, Bash, Bosh’ on it but after a long thought process he decides to do him, and represent himself. Not too long after the shoot begins there is this feeling of a laid back atmosphere and it is clear to see that not only are these two people who have worked together but also people who are actually genuinely friends. They have this conversational approach to the interview which on camera worked out phenomenally as you feel like you are part of a conversation between friends. Apart from the few cue cards which were thrown after each question nearly poking out some of the staffs eyes, the flow of the interview is very easy going and with only a few out takes it is clear to see that we are working with professionals who know how to get on with their jobs. While some may take 10 minutes just to say the intro it seemed like this was just a walk in the park for the both of them. Noel’s director side came out of him a few times when he would say, time, time and tried to speed things up and Bashy’s professionalism meant that everything got done. There were so many juicy things to talk about that it ends up being the case were the last few questions had to be rushed but there is so much content to even pick up from that it doesn’t really seem to be a problem. We all have a laugh when we realise that both Noel’s wife and Bashy won first and second place to see the Baftas when Noel won his award.
The interview starts of in a light-hearted manner with some playful banter but as the questions go on it is clear to see that not only was this entertaining for all to see but you couldn’t help but find it inspirational at the same time. As they dug in deeper and deeper about themselves it was clear to see that they had both come from humble backgrounds but with the determination, dedication and motivation they are both able to be where they are today. There was something that Noel said that stays in my mind, he said he doesn’t like it when people approach him and says things like I’m thinking of writing a script for example he likes it when people just does it and then shows it. Likewise with Bashy on the music scene when a lot of people approach him. You get this sense of honesty and genuine realness between the two and you can’t help but be drawn to them. Bashy in the past started out with many different jobs such as a post man and a bus driver. Noel Clarke couldn’t afford to go to drama school so took part in drama at college e.t.c. What links the two together is that they both sought opportunities, worked hard and now they are where they are.
So the interview ends with all the boxes of what needed to be done ticked and the staff claps as it dawns on all of us that there is a lot of good footage on our hands. Both Noel and Bashy take a couple of pictures with both Jasmine and Yemi from the Base team and then they are left to catch up amongst themselves on what seems to be a lifetime. As we say our last goodbyes in the reception area of the studios a lasting memory stays in my mind of what these two young men have achieved and makes me know that anything is possible.